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In a 54-45 vote Tuesday, the Senate rejected an amendment Nelson introduced that would have prevented women who used government subsidies to purchase health insurance from buying into a plan that included abortion coverage.
Nelson has threatened to filibuster the legislation if his amendment failed, raising doubts about whether Democrats will be able to secure the 60 votes needed to pass the health bill.
Democratic Sen. Robert Casey of Pennsylvania also sponsored the Nelson-Hatch Amendment, which is similar to the Stupak-Pitts Amendment that banned federal funding of abortion in the House bill.
“With this vote, we now call on pro-life Democrats—including Sen. Nelson, co-sponsor of the amendment—to follow through with the promise to reject the Senate’s health care measure because it fails to exclude abortion funding,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice.
More than 170,000 people signed on to a petition the organization drafted expressing opposition to abortion funding in the health reform bill.
“As it stands today, there should be no question about opposing the Senate health care bill,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life group, the Susan B. Anthony List. “If you call yourself pro-life and genuinely care about preserving true common ground, you cannot possibly vote for this bill. Pro-life senators-the sponsors of Nelson’s amendment included-must oppose this legislation.”
