Two recent events with thousands in attendance are highlighting the contrasting values on important issues like life, and the deep divide on where groups are placing their priorities. The Clinton Global Initiative???s Annual Meeting was held this week in New York City, and the Family Research Council???s Values Voter Summit was held in Washington. While they might be only 200 miles apart in distance, they are in completely different hemispheres on issues important to conservatives.
The Washington Examiner recently reported on the direct connections with the Clinton Foundation and their corporate sponsors and their direct funding of abortions across the globe. The story, which was based on 2nd Vote???s research into the corporate sponsorships of the Clinton Foundation, found that they are listed as a general partner of Population Services International (PSI). While many may have not heard of PSI in the past, it is a global health organization which donates to International Planned Parenthood and supports abortion directly in four countries: India, Cambodia, Nepal and South Africa.
The same research also found that the Clinton Foundation promotes Pathfinder International, another obscure group with a remarkably troubling record on the issue of life.
Pathfinder???s mission is to ensure that people everywhere have the right and opportunity to ???live a healthy sexual and reproductive life.??? Pathfinder strives to strengthen access to family planning and to ensure availability of abortion services. Pathfinder states ???Safe Abortion and Post Abortion Services??? as part of its ???Statement of Program Service Accomplishments,??? and spent $72,661,466 towards this end. In its 2013 Annual Report, Pathfinder openly takes credit for over 4,000 abortions worldwide.
Pathfinder states that access to abortion services is not only a public health imperative, it is also every woman???s right; they also want to expand the number of providers who can perform abortion services.
The Clinton Foundation, and their corporate sponsors such as IKEA, are sponsoring these groups. While liberal activity from the Foundation itself is not surprising, the corporate backing should be. Companies who fund the Clinton Foundation are directly funding the ending of life, and that should make their conservative customers take a second look at their activity.
The Values Voter Summit, in contrast, fully supports the pro-life movement, and yet, they have very little to show in corporate sponsorship.
The divergent principles might be best encapsulated in who they choose to honor this year. The Clinton Foundation gave an award to Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio for his environmental work. Values Voter Summit is honoring Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese Christian who was sentenced to death for her Christian faith and spent months in a Sudanese prison with her toddler son and newborn daughter before being released. Values Voter Summit is her first public appearance since arriving in the United States, and her story is what the folks at Turtle Bay and at CGI should be praising.
The divergent views are not new, but the level of corporate funding and sponsorship of organizations who boast about increasing access to abortions should be of concern to all. The stark contrast has never been more blatant than seeing these two groups, and their actions, on display this week.
Chris Walker is Executive Director of 2nd Vote, an organization that researches the connections between corporate activity and public policy. You can download their free app at www.2ndvote.com.
