Sen. Banks: Investigate Millenium Challenge Corporation for Pro-Abortion ExtortionFriday, January 31, 2025

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Yesterday, Senator Jim Banks (R-Ind.) sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, asking for an investigation regarding the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC) actions under the Biden administration:
In part, Senator Banks wrote:
“Reports suggest that the MCC is threatening to withhold assistance under Sierra Leone’s Compact if the country’s legislature fails to pass theSafe MotherhoodAct. This radical and unpopular bill would legalize abortion up to 14 weeks for any reason, and until birth if deemed necessary to “protect the mental health of the woman.” Holding assistance hostage for the sake of pressuring another nation to adopt pro-abortion legislation is shameful and wrong.”
Full text of the letter may be foundhereand below.
Dear Secretary Rubio,
I write to you regarding the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) actions under the Biden administration to pressure foreign nations to adopt pro-abortion legislation or risk losing their aid. Radical bureaucrats have weaponized American aid to strong-arm poor countries into conforming to their abortion agenda and I hope to see a thorough investigation into the MCC.
Reports suggest that the MCC is threatening to withhold assistance under Sierra Leone’s Compact if the country’s legislature fails to pass theSafe MotherhoodAct. This radical and unpopular bill would legalize abortion up to 14 weeks for any reason, and until birth if deemed necessary to “protect the mental health of the woman.[1]” Holding assistance hostage for the sake of pressuring another nation to adopt pro-abortion legislation is shameful and wrong.
In September 2024, the MCC established the Sierra Leone Compact to provide Sierra Leone with $480 million in energy infrastructure assistance, so long as Sierre Leon continues to meet the qualifications outlined in the MCC’s criteria. The aid package could total over 10% of Sierra Leone’s GDP, unleashing significant economic growth.
These contracts can be evaluated on an ongoing basis, allowing for the MCC, under the chairmanship of the Secretary of State, to reconsider the eligibility of the country. Unfortunately, the MCC utilizes “Freedom House,” a far-left think tank that has wrongly deemed any life-affirming legislation an attack on individual liberty.[2]In 2023, Freedom House lowered its “Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights” score for the United States because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision inDobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which correctly recognized that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee a right to abortion.[3]
It is unconscionable that the United States has used the MCC to threaten the Sierra Leonean’s protection for the unborn. Therefore, I request that you complete a thorough investigation into the MCC’s connection to theSafe Motherhood Act, and no later than March 1, please provide answers to the following questions in writing:
Thank you for your attention to this important matter, and I look forward to hearing from you.
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[1]Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, “’Deeply Disturbing’: Biden Pushing Abortion on Black-Majority Country, Sources Say.”The Daily Signal, December 16, 2024.
[2]Nick M. Brown, “Millennium Challenge Corporation: Overview and Issues.”Congressional Research Services, October 3, 2019.
[3]“United States: Freedom in the World 2023 Country Report.”Freedom House, 2023.