"A president can impact lives for generations with pro-life policies," said AUL Action's Clarke Forsythe, "beginning with a strong defense of the Hyde Amendment that protects taxpayers from funding a secretive, lucrative abortion industry."

Contact: Kristi Hamrick, 202-289-1478, press@aulaction.org

WASHINGTON, July 20, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- "As Governor Mike Pence prepares to accept the GOP nomination for Vice President, Americans United for Life Action welcomes a proven leader for life to the national stage to add his voice to calls for real protections for the most vulnerable among us," said AUL Action Acting President and Senior Counsel Clarke Forsythe. "In office, priority number one must be protecting the Hyde Amendment, which prevents taxpayer dollars from being spent on abortions except in cases of rape, incest and if the mother's life is in danger. Again and again, polls show that Americans – self-proclaimed as pro-life AND pro-choice – do not want their tax money paying for abortion. That is an area of bi-partisan agreement and a place to begin."

AUL Action is leading a national campaign to rally support for protecting the Hyde Amendment. Click here to learn more.

In 1980, Americans United for Life won a historic victory for pro-life America when we successfully defended the Hyde Amendment in Harris v. McRae before the U.S. Supreme Court. AUL attorney Victor Rosenblum argued the case before the Court, resulting in a favorable decision and ending a four-year court battle. This important court decision upheld federal and state prohibitions on public funding of abortion except in the case of the life of the mother, and was the achievement of the late Congressman Henry Hyde, an AUL founder.

"While protecting the Hyde Amendment and codifying it into permanent law is a place to begin, a pro-life president can make many meaningful changes in office," noted Clarke. Writing at National Review, Forsythe noted that a pro-life agenda day one for any president should include:

1. Making pro-life picks to the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary.
    
2. Limiting abortion at five months of pregnancy when the procedure becomes dangerous for women.
    
3. Preventing taxpayer funding of abortion.
    
4. Enhancing and enforcing federal conscience-protection laws.
    
5. Repealing and replacing Obamacare with life-affirming healthcare.
    
6. Distancing the American Taxpayer from financial support of the nation's largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.
    
7. Restoring health and safety regulations for life-ending drugs and devices.
    
8. Supporting the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.
    
9. Establishing foreign aid that affirms women's health rather than ends unborn life.
    
10. Using the bully pulpit to make the case for the value of all life, from conception to natural death.

"The recent Supreme Court rulings, which ignored the medical realities of abortion's many harms in favor of mere access to abortion should make it clear to all that we need office holders who respect all life and will use their influence to protect life," said Forsythe.

For more on attacks on the Hyde Amendment, click here. For more information go to www.aulaction.org.