FROM CBN

GOP Lawmaker: WH Illegally Funding Kenya AbortionCBNNews.com Thursday, July 22, 2010RSS

A Republican congressman has accused the Obama administration of spending U.S. tax dollars on an initiative that would make abortion legal in Kenya.

Citing a report by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said $23 million has gone to Kenyan groups who are working for passage of a new constitution.

The document would expand current abortion laws, which currently allow the procedure only when the mother's life is in danger.

Smith also said the new constitution was not written by Kenyans, but by U.S.-funded non-governmental organizations working with Planned Parenthood.

Federal law forbids the U.S. government to lobby for abortion in other countries.

"Under no circumstances should the U.S. government take sides," Smith said at a news conference Wednesday. "Yet that is precisely what the Obama administration has done."

Smith and two other congressmen have called for a federal investigation into the administration's funding on the referendum.

"If violations of the law have occurred, which on the face of it they have, the information must be brought before law enforcement," Smith said. "Not even presidents are above the law."

Meanwhile, Christian churches in Kenya are encouraging people to vote against the proposed constitution next week.

The draft document would also establish Islamic Sharia law courts where Muslims could resolve social and family disputes according to their beliefs.