By Kathleen Gilbert
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 22, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On Tuesday morning the Senate cleared the second of three important procedural votes needed to put President Obama's abortion-funding health care overhaul on a path to final passage, in a vote now projected to occur around 10 p.m. Christmas Eve.
The same body had voted earlier in the morning to approve Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's manager's amendment, the final changes that will be allowed in the Senate bill. That vote required only a simple majority of 51 to pass.
The next vote is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
A high-pressure vote to end debate on the manager's amendment 1 a.m. Monday morning delivered the first big victory to Democrats, who hailed the vote as assurance that the bill would succeed in the remainder of the Senate votes.
Public opposition to the bill, which pro-life and conservative advocates have roundly condemned as an abortion-industry bailout and an immense overreach of government power, remains steady.
A Quinnipac University poll released Tuesday suggests American voters have largely not taken to heart the lofty claims of Democrats that the bill will improve the lives of “millions of Americans” and decrease the national deficit – 53% “mostly disapprove” of the health care overhaul, while 35% mostly approve. Voters also disapprove of Obama's handling of health care, 56%-38%.
In the same poll, 72% said they opposed using government money to pay for abortions, with only 23% in favor – a 3 to 1 margin. Despite weeks of wrangling over the issue, the manager's amendment keeps intact provisions to instigate massive government funding for abortion, earning the condemnation of top pro-life groups such as the National Right to Life Committee and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Both Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Sen. Bob Casey (D-Penn.), both once considered the top pro-life advocates among Senate Democrats, have begun endorsing the Reid bill as adequately representing the Hyde-amendment ban on all federal funding of abortion.
In an interview with the Detroit News this week, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) explained that the funds-segregation schemes in the Reid bill fall far short of current federal policy on abortion funding. Stupak, the author of the Hyde-amendment language in the House health bill last month, has promised along with 39 other Democrat representatives to kill a final bill that lacked such language.
“Everyone keeps saying, 'We want to keep current law,'” he said. “Current law doesn't allow federal employees to write a separate check for their policies so they can have abortion services. That is not current law.”
Stupak explained that, “underneath the Senate language, number one, abortion is a recognized benefit paid for by the federal government; number two, in the exchange, at least one plan … must have abortion coverage; number three, you still have the $1 per month, per enrollee (that the Senate bill requires everybody to pay in plans offering abortion coverage) that goes to reproductive services, including abortion.
“Those are three good reasons to oppose this language,” said Stupak.
Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121
Ben Nelson, D-Neb.
202-224-6551
Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark.
202-224-4843
Jim Webb, D-Va.
202-224-4024
Click here for the Stop the Abortion Mandate Coalition's action items resource.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
“Craven Betrayal”?: Associates Baffled by Nelson's Mysterious About-Face
Mistrust Among Senators Thickens as Bill Hurtles Toward Christmas Eve Vote