FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Isakson Votes to Preserve Ban on Federal Funding for Abortion
Co-sponsors Amendment Adding Ban to Senate Health Care Bill

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today criticized the Senate for rejecting an amendment he co-sponsored that would have applied to the Senate health care bill a longstanding federal standard barring federal funding for abortion except in the case of rape, incest or life of the mother.

Senate Democrats tabled the amendment by U.S. Senators Orin Hatch, R-Utah, and Ben Nelson, D-Neb., by a vote of 54-45.

“By providing taxpayer funding of abortion, Senate Democrats are poised to radically change a federal policy that has been in place for over 30 years,” Isakson said. “I co-sponsored this amendment because it is incomprehensible to fund abortion with American tax dollars.”

The amendment would have extended a longstanding provision in law that has come to be known as the Hyde amendment, which bars the use of federal funds to pay for abortions through funds allocated by the annual appropriations bill for Health and Human Services, to the health care reform legislation currently being considered in the Senate. The amendment also would have prohibited the use of the bill’s proposed “affordability tax credits” to purchase a health insurance policy that covers abortion, and would have prohibited federal funding for abortion under the community health insurance option.         

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