Pro-lifers won a major victory Nov. 7 when an amendment that would prohibit the much debated national health care bill from covering or funding abortion passed, 240–194.
The amendment passed minutes before the health care bill itself (H.R. 3962) passed, 220–215.
The fact that the amendment even received a vote seemed improbable just 24 hours earlier, but Democratic leaders saw that without winning a block of roughly 40 pro-life members of their own party, the overall health care bill had little chance of passage. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., and the 40 members had been trying for weeks to get a floor vote on the amendment, which was narrowly defeated in committee. They threatened to try to prevent the bill from coming to the floor if their amendment wasn’t considered.
It was a tough pill to swallow for pro-choice House members, many of whom had assumed the Stupak amendment wouldn’t receive a vote because Democratic leaders — including Speaker Nancy Pelosi — opposed it.
The amendment, sponsored by Stupak, prohibits the government-run public option from covering elective abortions and also prevents federal subsidies — that is, subsidies given to lower-income people — from paying for insurance plans that cover elective abortion.
The amendment received the votes of 176 Republicans and 64 Democrats. Opposing it were 194 Democrats, including Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. All Alabama representatives voted yes in support of the amendment.
Tony Perkins, president of the pro-life Family Research Council, called the Nov. 7 vote a “pro-life milestone.”
“This is one of the most significant pro-life votes since Roe v. Wade,” Perkins said during a conference call following the vote. He said he still has reservations about the overall bill but is “very grateful” for the leadership of pro-life members of both parties.
Stupak, who voted for the overall bill, said his amendment simply applied the Hyde Amendment — which is current law — to the health care bill. The Hyde Amendment, which must be renewed yearly, prevents Medicaid from paying for elective abortions. It was first passed in the mid-1970s. Stupak said without his amendment, the health care bill would be a “direct assault” on the Hyde Amendment.
“I am not writing a new federal abortion policy,” Stupak said on the floor. “I ask my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans alike: Let us stand together on principle of no public funding for abortion, no public funding for insurance policies that pay for abortion.” (BP)
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