Forget debates over whether to implement the Mexico City policy abroad — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, wants to fund abortions in “poor countries” in hopes of curbing climate change.
On Wednesday night, CNN aired a town hall centered on climate change, and, at one point during the event, a woman who identified herself as a teacher told Sanders the earth “cannot sustain” the current human growth rate and suggested the unadulterated promotion of abortion would be a “reasonable campaign to enact” in order to curb population growth.
She then asked the presidential hopeful — a self-avowed socialist — if he’d be “courageous enough” to make abortion a central tenet of his plan to address the looming “climate catastrophe.”
Sanders, as you might expect, was very much in favor of the teacher’s idea.
He called the Mexico City policy, which was first enacted under former President Ronald Reagan and denies U.S. aid to non-governmental organizations around the world that facilitate or in any way promote abortion, “totally absurd.”
“I think, especially, in poor countries around the world, where women do not necessarily want to have large numbers of babies, and where they can have the opportunity through birth control to control the number of kids they have, is something I very, very strongly support,” Sanders explained.
Conservatives and Christian leaders were quick to respond to Sanders’ suggestion that abortion should be used as a policy to address climate change.
Lila Rose, founder of the pro-life organization Live Action, called the idea “disgusting” while CNN host and commentator S.E. Cupp called Sanders’ suggestion “vile” and “disqualifying.”
Seminary professor Denny Burk chimed in, asking, “Killing babies in utero is now the answer to climate change?” And Jarrid Wilson, associate pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, simply wrote: “Oh. My. Gosh.”
And the Nigerian-born pro-life activist Obianuju Ekeocha asserted the Vermont senator “wants America to fund the killing of Africa’s unborn babies.”
“Why do you need opposition research when it’s done for free and aired on national TV?” commented Andrew Walker, a senior fellow at the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
It’s no wonder, as Faithwire previously reported, an increasing number of pro-life Democrats are looking for a different kind of candidate. Because Sanders certainly isn’t it.