By Kathleen Gilbert
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 8, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Senators debating President Obama's health care overhaul Monday and Tuesday went head-to-head on the Nelson/Hatch/Casey amendment, with pro-life senators arguing that the amendment would restore Hyde-amendment protections in the bill, and pro-abortion senators claiming that the bill already does so.
However, the amendment, which mirrors the Stupak amendment in the House health care bill, was voted on and defeated on Tuesday evening in a 54-45 vote.
After introducing the long-awaited language, Sen. Ben Nelson on Monday said that the health care overhaul “should not be used to open a new avenue for public funding of abortion.”
“The question has been settled. Most Americans, even some who support abortion, do not want taxpayer money to pay for abortions,” said Nelson. “We should not break with precedent on this bill.
“It's time to simply extend the standard disallowing public funding of abortion, which has stood the test of time, to new proposed federal legislation,” he said.
“The current bill has language that looks like it is protective, but it is not,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) on Tuesday. “That's what we're trying to do, is close the loophole in that language, and get it so that we live up to the Hyde amendment, which has been in the law since 1977.”
“To be honest with you, I don't see how anyone can argue that taxpayers should be called upon to foot the bill to pay for abortions,” he added.
Hatch and other GOP lawmakers argued that the amendment reflects Hyde-amendment restrictions as supported by the American people, according to a broad array of polling data collected in recent weeks.
“Anyone who argues otherwise is just plain not being accurate,” said Hatch.
Democrat Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Penn.), like many of his colleagues, simply claimed that the “flat language” of the current bill “accomplishes the purpose of the Hyde amendment.”
Specter also argued that the bill's current abortion language, which mirrors the defunct Capps amendment in the House bill, is “identical to Medicaid” in its segregation of abortion funds.
National Right to Life (NRLC) legislative director Douglas Johnson argued, however, that Sen. Specter's representation of Medicaid funding was “dead wrong.”
Douglas said that the federal Medicaid program does not pay for elective abortions because of the Hyde amendment. “What is allowed, and what seventeen states have done, is to set up their own separate programs to pay for abortions with 100% state money,” said Johnson. “They can do whatever they want, because it's entirely a state matter. It's not technically Medicaid at all.”
Johnson noted that “there's nothing” in the Nelson/Hatch/Casey amendment that prevents a similar arrangement with a public health insurance option.
Other pro-abortion lawmakers, such as Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) argued that the Nelson/Hatch/Casey amendment was essentially “discriminatory” against women and violated their right to privacy.
GOP lawmakers, however, maintained that the current form of the bill marks a vast departure from federal policy on the funding of abortion.
“Our colleague from Texas [Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson] said that this is a foot in the door, and I agree with her: if this Reid bill passes with the current language on abortion, it's not only a foot in the door, in my estimation, it kicks down the door,” said Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.)
Johanns argued that, “For pro-life senators, this is the vote, but it doesn't stop here” – if the amendment fails, he said, pro-life senators should move to strike down the bill.
“Even if this amendment doesn't pass, I want to make the case that this bill should not go forward, because it literally will create a system … to finance abortions,” he said.
“And I don't believe that's what this country wants.”
While pro-abortion Democrat lawmakers have vowed to vote down the bill if it includes the language restricting abortion funding, Democrat Sen. Nelson has said he would oppose the bill without it, leaving it unclear how Democrats will achieve the 60 votes needed to block a filibuster on the bill.
Click here for the Stop the Abortion Mandate Coalition's resource for contacting U.S. lawmakers.