Did Your U.S. Senator Vote to Force You to Pay for Abortions?

For more than 40 years, the Hyde Amendment has prohibited U.S. tax dollars from directly funding abortions under Medicaid and several other federal programs. Each year, this critical language has been approved as part of the Labor-HHS appropriations process, and has by many accounts been responsible for saving a significant number of lives.

We at the ACLJ have long supported the Hyde Amendment and called for its codification and expansion. We believe that every corner of the Federal Government should protect the right of the American people to refrain from funding a practice so objectionable—the taking of an innocent life.

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate attempted to accomplish this very objective by voting on the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. This legislation, which is sponsored by Sen. Roger Wicker (MS) would have placed the Hyde Amendment into statute and required its application across the entire Federal Government.

Unfortunately, the Senate was not able to obtain the 60 votes required to begin debate on the legislation. By a vote of 48-47, cloture on the Motion to Proceed was not invoked.

The vote was largely along partisan lines, with all but two Republican Senators voting in favor and all but two Democrat Senators voting in opposition. The two Republican Senators who opposed the legislation are Sen. Susan Collins (ME) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (AK), and the two Democrat Senators who supported the legislation are Bob Casey (PA) and Joe Manchin (WV).

We are grateful to Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) for scheduling this vote, and we encourage those of you who care about this issue to voice your opinion to your U.S. Senators. We will continue fighting to protect your tax dollars from being used in this horrific fashion. We are working toward a day when a pro-life Congress will send a pro-life President this legislation to end taxpayer funding for abortion.