There is nothing pro-choice about requiring others to pay for abortions. But President Obama’s new nominee for Deputy Secretary of State believes that taxpayers are constitutionally obligated to fund them. Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) writes today on his blog:

James B. Steinberg, President Obama’s nominee to be the next Deputy Secretary of State, claimed in written testimony to the Foreign Relations Committee that Congress cannot constitutionally restrict taxpayer funding to perform or promote abortions. Mr. Steinberg stated that the Mexico City policy, which bars taxpayer funding of abortions overseas, “is an unnecessary restriction that, if applied to organizations based in this country, would be an unconstitutional limitation on free speech.”

DeMint notes that Steinberg’s opinion directly contradicts the Supreme Court’s view on the matter, expressed in the majority opinion in the 1991 case Rust v. Sullivan:

The Government has no constitutional duty to subsidize an activity merely because it is constitutionally protected, and may validly choose to allocate public funds for medical services relating to childbirth but not to abortion.