Washington, DC – The House version of the health care reform legislation narrowly passed with the vote of 220-215 late Saturday evening, but it was done without provisions for the funding of abortions.
The Stupak-Pitts amendment, which will deny tax funding for abortions, handily passed with a vote of 240-194. Abortion funding had threatened to derail the entire House bill on health care with pro-life Democrats strongly opposed to Pelosi’s scheme to force taxpayers to foot the bill for abortions.
Operation Rescue President Troy Newman issues the following statement on today’s votes:
“Today, the voices of 71% of the American people who oppose taxpayer funded abortions were heard loud and clear. We thank each one who took the time to raise their voices in opposition to the Obama-Pelosi-Carhart effort to force taxpayers to fund the shedding of innocent blood through abortion.
“There is still a long way to go to prevent government subsidized health care from paying for abortions. Now the ball is in the Senate’s court, and we pray that the common sense displayed in the House on the matter of abortion funding will also prevail in the Senate.
“We will continue to stand on behalf of the voiceless and oppose any efforts to restore abortion funding in any future version of health care legislation. But for tonight, we celebrate this day’s pro-life victory defunding abortion, which will save lives and prevent the immoral and fiscally irresponsible bailout of the abortion cartel.”
View the New York Times interactive map on the vote.
