The Senate on Tuesday rejected an effort to tighten restrictions against using federal funds for abortion under Democrats' landmark healthcare legislation, handing a victory to abortion-rights advocates but setting up a potential conflict with the House.
The Senate voted 54-45 to kill an amendment offered by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) to make sure the bill does not undermine the long-standing ban on federal abortion funding.
But critics defeated the measure, saying it would go too far and curb access to abortion coverage even if women buy insurance with their own money.
That vote put the Senate at odds with the House, which has passed a bill that includes the stricter abortion language backed by a large faction anti-abortion Democrats who otherwise were prepared to defeat the healthcare legislation.
The vote came after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), a lifelong abortion foe, sided with his party's abortion-rights majority in opposition. He gave an impassioned closing speech urging senators to not let the hot-button social issue derail a major expansion of healthcare access that he believed was true to his "pro-life" record on abortion.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Senators Defeat Anti-Abortion Amendment in Health Care Bill By 54-45
The Senate today rejected an amendment in the health care bill that would tighten restrictions on abortion coverage.
By a vote of 54-45, Senators dismissed the abortion amendment offered by Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
Nelson had threatened to vote no on final passage if his amendment was not included, but he declined to say today if he would abandon the Democrats' razor thin 60-vote majority.
"This makes it very hard for me to support it," Nelson told reporters after the vote.
In casting his "No" vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., acknowledged that while he may oppose abortion rights, it "doesn't mean I'm opposed to finding common ground for the greater good."
SOURCE: ABC News
By a vote of 54-45, Senators dismissed the abortion amendment offered by Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
Nelson had threatened to vote no on final passage if his amendment was not included, but he declined to say today if he would abandon the Democrats' razor thin 60-vote majority.
"This makes it very hard for me to support it," Nelson told reporters after the vote.
In casting his "No" vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., acknowledged that while he may oppose abortion rights, it "doesn't mean I'm opposed to finding common ground for the greater good."
SOURCE: ABC News
Comparison of Democratic health care bills
A comparison of the health care bills before Congress:
- The Senate bill (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act):
- The House bill (Affordable Health Care for America Act):
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