{"id":239416,"date":"2021-02-06T09:31:04","date_gmt":"2021-02-06T15:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=239416"},"modified":"2021-02-05T21:55:15","modified_gmt":"2021-02-06T03:55:15","slug":"48-senators-promise-oppose-fund-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/48-senators-promise-oppose-fund-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"48 U.S. senators promise to oppose any bill that funds abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(National Review<\/a>)\u00a0In a letter this morning to Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), 48 Republican senators have pledged to oppose any spending bill that does not contain the Hyde amendment or other pro-life protections.<\/p>\n

Since 1976, Hyde has been added on a bipartisan basis to federal spending bills to prevent taxpayer money from directly reimbursing abortion providers for the cost of elective abortions.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s letter \u2014\u00a0a copy of which was provided exclusively to National Review<\/span>\u00a0\u2014 was spearheaded by Montana senator Steve Daines, who founded and chairs the Senate Pro-Life Caucus, and its signatories include every GOP senator aside from Susan Collins (R., Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska).<\/p>\n

\u201cAbortion is not health care; rather, it is a brutal procedure that destroys the life of an innocent unborn child,\u201d the letter states. \u201cThe Hyde Amendment reflects a consensus that millions of pro-life Americans who are profoundly opposed to abortion should not be coerced into paying for it or incentivizing it with their taxpayer dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

It goes on to cite a recent survey<\/a> showing that most Americans, including a third of Democrats and those who call themselves pro-choice, oppose taxpayer funding of abortion.<\/p>\n

The letter follows a similar one<\/a> from House Republicans to congressional leadership, spearheaded by the Republican Study Committee and its chairman, Indiana representative Jim Banks. In that letter, 200 House Republicans pledged to vote against any legislation that fails to include Hyde.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a message for Democratic leader Schumer: We will vote to block any radical, pro-abortion agenda,\u201d Daines said in a statement today to National Review<\/span>. \u201cThat includes any bill that undermines the Hyde amendment and other longstanding pro-life protections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because the letter received the signatures of 48 Republicans in the Senate, pro-life lawmakers have the votes to filibuster any legislation that isn\u2019t considered under reconciliation.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0200 members of Congress stand against attempt to force taxpayers to fund abortion<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Until 2016, politicians in both parties supported Hyde as a conscience protection for pro-lifers. But in 2016, the Democratic Party platform explicitly demanded taxpayer funding of abortion, and nearly every politician competing for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination promised to oppose Hyde.<\/p>\n

No president has ever vetoed a spending bill over its inclusion of Hyde, and Barack Obama included the provision in his proposed budgets during his presidency.<\/p>\n