December 8, 2009

(Washington, DC) – The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), focusing on constitutional law, today called the Senate’s vote rejecting the Nelson-Hatch pro-life amendment to the health care bill “a callous disregard for the protection of innocent human life” that ignores “the concerns of the American people.” 

“The vote reflects a callous disregard for the protection of innocent human life,” said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ.  “It is clear most Americans do not want abortion classified as a mandatory health care benefit.  The House understood this in passing the Stupak-Pitts Amendment.  Sadly, the Senate chose to ignore the concerns of the American people and refused to approve an Amendment that would have put into place much-needed pro-life protections in the Senate's version of health care reform.  Rejecting this Amendment is disappointing, but not surprising.”
 
“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,” added Sekulow.

“The battle over health care reform is far from over.  We will continue to oppose the Senate's health care bill and continue to work to ensure that a final version of health care to be considered at some point by Congress includes the pro-life protections so many Americans demand.”

The ACLJ heard from nearly 170,000 Americans who signed on to a petition opposing the abortion funding in the House bill.  In just the past few days alone, thousands more signed on to oppose the abortion requirements in the Senate version.

Led by Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, the American Center for Law and Justice focuses on constitutional law and is based in Washington, D.C.