Washington D.C., Nov 19, 2009 / 11:31 am
Pro-life leaders have criticized the regulation of abortion funding in the Senate’s proposed version of health care reform legislation as “completely unacceptable.” A Senate version of the Stupak-Pitts Amendment is necessary to prevent federal funding for abortion, they said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday unveiled a health care plan that claims to extend health coverage to 94 percent of Americans and about 31 million uninsured people at a cost of $848 billion over ten years, Bloomberg reports.
“This legislation is a tremendous step forward,” Reid told reporters at the Capitol last night. “Tonight begins the last leg of this journey.”
According to Bloomberg, the bill has some safeguards to keep federal dollars from funding abortion but not the restrictions adopted in the House bill’s Stupak Amendment. Pro-abortion advocates have threatened to vote against a final bill if it contains the House language and have worked to keep it out of the Senate version.