Obama's abortion order ignores law

I came across a really good article that I want you all to read. Its posted over at East Valley Tribune.

Thomas J. Lucente Jr., The Lima (Ohio) News

Time to talk about the dreaded “A” word — abortion.

Well, not really. This is not about abortion so much as it is about an unconstitutional abuse of power by President Barack Obama. And, please, spare me the rants about President George W. Bush’s abuses of power. I agree with you. Still that does not excuse Obama’s abuse.

I am talking about Obama repealing a Reagan-era ban on federal funding for international groups that promote or perform abortions. Obama could not wait to send that ban to the shredder. In fact, it was one of his first acts as president. He couldn’t wait to sign that order forcing you to resume paying for abortions in some far away land.

Of course, he tried to sneak it in by signing the executive order late on a Friday afternoon, a time traditionally reserved for the release of information an administration wants to bury. He also waited until the day after the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision protecting abortion rights.

How is that for change?

President Bill Clinton did the same thing after assuming office in 1993 and Bush reinstated the ban when he took office in 2001.

Of course, the abortion rights crowd hailed the rescission of the ban as a reasonable or enlightened approach to family planning. The anti-abortion crowd saw it as a license for the federal government to fund overseas abortions.

As I mentioned above, though, this is not about abortion. This is about abuse of power and playing the legal loophole game. It is illegal for the federal government to fund abortions overseas under a 1973 law. What President Ronald Reagan did when he announced this gag rule in 1984 was give the 1973 law teeth.

Clearly, it is the will of the Congress for the U.S. government not to fund foreign abortions. That is clear by the existence of the 1973 law. However, money is fungible. As long as the international group said it was not using the U.S. funding to pay for the abortions, then it was OK. Of course, U.S. funding simply freed up more of that group’s money from other sources for use on abortions.

That was the loophole that Reagan, as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, wanted to plug.

Liberals like Clinton and Obama, however, have little respect for the rule of law. They like the loophole because it fits in with their philosophical view that women throughout the world have a right to abortions on demand.

What really bothers me is that neither the 1973 law nor the Reagan or Bush executive orders should be needed. It is clearly unconstitutional for the United States to give tax dollars to international groups. There is absolutely no clause in the U.S. Constitution that permits the government to take money from you and me and give it to groups overseas so they can fund abortions. If you can find that clause, I will eat my copy of the Constitution.

Unfortunately, if the Congress or the president wants to disobey the Constitution by giving our hard-earned money away, there is nothing we can do about it. The U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of its authority has created a constitutional loophole.

According to the court, American citizens cannot sue the government when the government acts unconstitutionally. With few exceptions, our position as citizens or taxpayers is not enough to give us standing to file a lawsuit to stop an unconstitutional act by the government unless we can prove we are directly harmed by the action.

The final reason Obama’s action is despicable has nothing to do with the law and everything to do with the American sense of fairness. It is a reality of our society that many Americans are opposed to abortions. With that in mind, it is unconscionable for the federal government to force those people to pay for abortions.

Even liberals should be able to see how it is wrong to force anti-abortion groups to fund abortions. That is akin to making the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People fund Ku Klux Klan activities.

As absurd as that sounds, Obama’s desire to force you to fund overseas abortions is equally absurd.