Congressmen call for probe of Obama administration for pushing abortion in Kenya

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.)

Washington D.C., May 11, 2010 / 07:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Three leading U.S. congressmen have requested a federal probe into whether the Obama administration broke federal laws by promoting a proposed Kenyan constitution that “radically” changes abortion policy.

The Obama administration’s advocacy supporting Kenya’s proposed constitution may constitute a “serious violation” of the Siljander Amendment and may be subject to civil and criminal penalties, the lawmakers said.

According to Rep. Smith’s office, the Siljander Amendment, annually included in the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Act, prohibits lobbying for or against abortion using the funds made available in the act. Penalties for violating the amendment can range from administrative sanctions, such as suspension from duty without pay or removal from office, to sanctions up to a $5,000 fine and imprisonment for up to two years.

Writing to Inspectors General (IG) of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) made the allegations against the U.S. administration.

According to Rep. Smith’s office, the lawmakers reported that Kenya’s current constitution includes no reference to abortion and abortion is not legally permitted in Kenya except to save the life of the mother.

The proposed constitution, which will be subject to a public referendum in August 2010, includes two new articles that if adopted would “enshrine a new constitutional right to abortion in Kenya and dramatically change Kenya’s abortion law,” they charged.

Article 26 of the proposed constitution would allow abortion in cases where health care professionals believe a mother’s “health” is endangered, an exception which has been broadly interpreted in many countries. Article 43 of the proposed constitution would create the right to health care services including “reproductive health care.”

“Reproductive health care” is not defined in the constitution, but it is a common euphemism for abortion access. On April 22, 2009, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the Obama administration believes that reproductive health “includes access to abortion.”

In the congressmen’s view, any expression of support for or opposition to the proposed constitution, including drafting, offering technical advice, or providing foreign assistance designed to influence public opinion “unavoidably involves lobbying for or against abortion.”

“This concern is particularly salient given the prominence of the abortion issue in the public debate over the referendum,” the congressmen’s letter continued.

They reported that the chairman of Kenya’s Committee of Experts on Constitutional Review has named abortion as one of the four most contentious issues in the proposal.

Rep. Smith noted that the U.S. State Department has pledged to spend $2 million to build support for the proposed constitution.

The congressmen requested an “immediate audit” of all U.S. government funds used or anticipated to be used to support Kenya’s proposed constitution.

Rep. Smith is the leading Republican on the House Africa and Global Health Subcommittee. Rep. Ros-Lehtinen is the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, while Rep. Issa is the lead Republican on the House Oversight Committee. According to Rep. Smith’s office, all three congressmen have broad legal oversight jurisdiction concerning federal funds used internationally.

THE COCKEYED WORLD OF THE PRO-ABORTION NUT JOBS

Obama the most radically pro-abortion President in history, was invited to speak at Notre Dame. Despite his flowery words, all his actions serve to radically increase abortions in America and around the world.

Obama DOJ nominee Dawn Johnsen saw a great danger to liberty in laws enacted to protect babies in the womb...... it was OK to make such laws to protect the interests of the woman carrying unborn child -- or to protect whatever interest the baby may have retroactively in its fetal existence if it is ever born alive -- but it was not OK to make such laws in the interest of the unborn child itself.

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What Obama and Michelle "Believe" re Aborted Babies Born Alive
FR POSTED http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2253212/posts?page=6

In February 2004, US Senate candidate Barack Obama's wife, Michelle, sent a fund-raising letter with the "alarming news" that "right-wing politicians" had passed a law (prohibiting doctors from stabbing half-born babies in the neck with scissors, suctioning out their brains and crushing their skulls).

Michelle Obama called partial-birth abortion "a legitimate medical procedure. " She urged supporters to pay $150 to attend a fund-raising luncheon for her husband, who she promised would fight against "cynical ploy[s]" to stop it.

BACKGROUND Legislation was presented on the federal level and in various states called the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. It stated all live-born babies were guaranteed the same constitutional right to equal protection, whether or not they were wanted. BAIPA sailed through the U.S. Senate by unanimous vote. Even Sens. Clinton, Kennedy and Kerry agreed a mother's right to "choose" stopped at her baby's delivery. The bill also passed overwhelmingly in the House. NARAL went neutral on it. Abortion enthusiasts publicly agreed that fighting BAIPA would appear extreme. President Bush signed BAIPA into law in 2002.

But in Illinois, the state version of BAIPA repeatedly failed, thanks in large part to then-state Sen. Barack Obama. Obama worried aloud that legislation protecting live aborted babies might infringe on women's rights or abortionists' rights.

In 2003, as chairman of the next Senate committee to which BAIPA was sent, Obama stopped it from even getting a hearing, shelving it to die much like babies were still being shelved to die in Illinois hospitals and abortion clinics.

BAIPA passed in 2005.........after Obama left.

The Real Chris Smith

Should a congressman with this record be rewarded with a 15th term in office?

* Voted for Cap and Trade (HR 2425, Roll Call 477, 6/26/09)
* Co-sponsored Card Check (HR 1409)
* Voted twice with Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats against making the 2001/2003 tax cuts (Bush tax cuts) permanent (H Con Res 376, Roll Call 156, 5/18/06) & (H Con Res 312, Roll Call 140, 3/13/08)
* Voted to allow the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to sue companies that require employees to speak English (HR 3093, Roll Call 734, 7/26/07)
* Voted with Nancy Pelosi to defeat a 2008 Republican budget resolution which would reduce spending $12 billion and impose a moratorium on pork barrel earmarks (H Con Res 312, Roll Call 140, 3/13/08)
* Voted twice to increase taxes on domestic energy producers (which is passed on the consumer) (HR 6275, Roll Call 455, 6/25/08) & (HR 7060, Roll Call 649, 9/26/08)
* Vote three times against drilling at ANWR (HR 6, Roll Call 122, 4/20/05), (H Con Res 376, Roll Call 156, 5/18/06), (S. Con Res 70, Roll Call 321, 5/14/08)
* Voted for the Pelosi light bulb bill in which the government will decide the type of light bulbs you can use in your own home (HR 3221, Roll Call 832, 8/4/07)
* Voted for Barney Frank’s housing trust fund (HR 2895, Roll Call 958, 10/10/07)
* Voted against free speech when he supported a bill to regulate the Internet including, email and blogs (HR 1606, Roll Call 559, 11/2/05)
* Accepts tens of thousands of dollars from Big Labor Unions each election cycle (Federal Election Commission reports)

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