Senate Rejection of Pro-Life Amendment Ignores Concerns of American People

“The vote reflects a callous disregard for the protection of innocent human life.” - Jay Sekulow, ACLJ chief counsel

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2009—Calling the Senate vote rejecting the Nelson-Hatch pro-life amendment to the health care bill "disappointing but not surprising," the chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) said the Senate is not only ignoring the protection of innocent human life - but also the concerns of the American people. 

"It is clear most Americans do not want abortion classified as a mandatory health care benefit," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ.  "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."
 
"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 Sekulow.

The ACLJ heard from nearly 170,000 Americans who signed a petition opposing 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.

"The battle over health care reform is far from over," said Sekulow.  "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."

Led by Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, the American Center for Law and Justice focuses on constitutional law and is based in Washington, D.C.  The ACLJ is online at www.aclj.org.  The ACLJ's online newsroom can be accessed at www.DeMossNews.com/aclj.

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