SW News: The US Senate has sponsored legislation that would strengthen and make permanent the existing provisions intended to forbid the federal government from paying for abortions abroad through foreign aid.

The bill known as American Values Act would strengthen current restrictions against foreign funding for abortions. It would particularly outlaw help for abortion as a family planning strategy and forbid the use of aid funds to promote or coerce abortions or for forced sterilization. The law would also establish a permanent ban on the payment of abortions using Peace Corps funds.

The legislation would also impose a long-standing ban on donations made to organizations that encourage or take part in coercive abortion or forcible sterilization, as well as donations made to the Peace Corps for the purpose of funding abortions.

Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, the bill's main proponent, said in a statement that "tax dollars should never be used to perform or promote abortion services in the United States or abroad."

The proposal was first offered by Risch in 2021, but Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey's Committee on Foreign Relations blocked its passage. The bill was reintroduced by Risch, the committee's ranking member, with support from six other Republicans.

Shortly after the US Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, a congressional amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act established the present limitations on the use of foreign aid for abortions. It is referred to as the Helms Amendment and was proposed by former North Carolina senator Jesse Helms. The Biden administration has called for its repeal, as have other Democrats and pro-abortion organizations.