For over three decades, it has been illegal to use any federal funds to pay for abortions in the United States.
The Hyde Amendment, a law enacted in 1976 that prohibits taxpayer funding of abortion, has long been a target of the Democrats, but even when they’ve held significant majorities in Congress, they’ve been unable to repeal it.
Until now.
In the current health care bill, the so-called “Public Option” would provide federally funded insurance coverage for abortion. This would give the radical abortion proponents a chance to get rid of that pesky Hyde Amendment. That would pose a serious problem for most Republicans – and even a few Democrats.
Which leads us to yesterday’s vote.
Ben Nelson, a Democrat from Nebraska, teamed up with Senator Hatch to propose an amendment that would have prevented federal insurance from funding abortion. I co-sponsored the amendment, but it failed on a largely party-line vote.
On the one hand, it’s disappointing to lose this particular battle. But on the other hand, it may very well help us to win the war against this bill altogether.
Remember what the goal is here. We don’t want to make Obamacare just a little less awful; we want to kill it outright. So, ironically, by defeating this amendment, the Democrats have made it harder for Senator Nelson to vote for the final bill.
All forty Republicans are on board to prevent this bill from passing. All we need is one Democrat to join us. By bowing to the demands of the radical abortion lobby, the Democrats today may have helped push Senator Nelson to our side of the aisle on this issue.
This is just one battle in the fight to kill Obamacare, and there will be many more. I will continue to press forward and oppose this bill at every turn.
I’m on the front lines on this issue, and the fight is now.
With the defeat of the abortion amendment and today’s announcement of a compromise on the “public option” it’s time to hammer away at removing the individual mandate. Help people understand how antithetical that is to individual liberty and use it to pry another senator or two fromt he Democrats.
Most of the Health Insurance companies in the country including my current health insurance and those with whom I have had coverage previously do not cover elective procedures such as plastic surgery or abortion. Neither should insurance under Obamacare. If a woman elects to have an abortion, she should pay for it herself rather than expecting insurance to pay for it for her.
Keep up the good fight! We are listening and watching. Do not let this bill that pretends to provide health care but is actually stealing our individual rights and freedoms be passed. Stand strong! We are behind you! You do represent us and we are counting on you. I’m glad you are willing to be there in DC fighting for what is right. I hope more will see this bill for the horrible mess it is and how it could destroy our country.
But they do cover elective procedures such as childbirth. Linda are you being consistent or is it that you don’t want people to have choice? You understand that bringing a child to term is significantly more expensive, especially given that the child will probably get coverage everybody in the group has to pay for for 18 years?
Pete, You are up in the night. Either Democrats are stupid or they are very loose in their morals.
Bob that Nelson has folded based on his state receiving millions to offset the costs of this bill, what is the plan? I am sick to death fo the bribery that goes on in congress to get bills that otherwise could not pass to go through based on being “bought off” Now don’t all the other senators feel they have been robbed? They should have held out too so they could get a pork barrel for their state. The process in not clean and not right. Seems that each bill should be voted on for its merits and win or lose on those merits not be attached to some bill that has to be passed like the military budget and then hook a few or many amendments to it that would have no chance of passage on it own. It doesn’t seem right.
I also wonder about the standard or practice that congress uses to not be part of Social Security, just the rest of us are. I’ll bet that your retirement from the government is not headed for bankruptcy. I also doubt that congress will be subject to the same health care they are voting on for the rest of us. I becomes apparent that we the people work for congress not the other way around.
Only the best will do for them while others are classed as second rate and not influential enough to matter. If someone disagrees with you (congress) they are ignored as being uninformed or not too bright. I know it is difficult to do what you do, but I would hope that somehow those that make the laws had to follow them too. It seems they always often make exceptions for themselves, only the lowly voter must follow them. Something needs to be done and I hope it is done in NOvember of 2010 and again in 2012. We need a new set of principled people in office to see if they will more closely follow the constitution and spend the money like they were earning it.
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