Battle is far from over
By a vote of 54 to 45, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, December 8, tabled (a.k.a. killed) an amendment to remove elective abortion from a sweeping health care restructuring bill proposed by Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" (H.R. 3590). Both Senator Carl Levin and Senator Debbie Stabenow voted to table the amendment which would have kept federal funds from paying for elective abortions in the Senate health care reform bill.
A majority of senators voted to keep abortion covered in the proposed federal government health care program; however, now the vote on cloture on the bill itself will become the key vote on whether to put the federal government into the abortion business. Right to Life of Michigan opposes cloture on the bill, which would require 60 affirmative votes, if federal funding of abortion is included.
The prolife amendment, which was rejected, was sponsored by Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Robert Casey (D-PA). It contained the same substance as the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which was adopted by the House of Representatives on November 7, 240-194. Both amendments would prevent the federal government insurance program (the "public option") from paying for abortion (except to save the life of the mother or in cases of rape or incest). In addition, both amendments would prevent federal subsidies from being used to purchase private health plans that cover elective abortion but would not restrict the sale or purchase of such policies with private funds.
Talk from Washington, D.C., is that the U.S. Senate has dropped the "public option" from its bill. The result of this change and the impact of federal funding of abortion is yet unknown. Right to Life of Michigan is following the debate closely.
While the vote yesterday killed an amendment to remove elective abortion from the pending Senate health care reform legislation bill, the battle is far from over.
While this is a setback, it is only step one. The key vote focuses on cloture -- whether to cut off debate. Again, Right to Life of Michigan opposes cloture on the bill if federal funding of abortion is included.
Thankfully, a number of prolife Democrats in the U.S. House who supported passage of health care legislation on November 7 will not vote for the Senate bill in its current form.
For detailed information, please visit the Right to Life of Michigan Prolife Action Center.
