Leading Anti-Abortion Group Vows to Vigorously Fight the Senate Health Bill

"This bill provides for an unprecedented expansion of federally-funded abortion. What is health care about if it is not for preserving and protecting human life? If the bill is not amended, it must be defeated." Charmaine Yoest

WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 - Americans United for Life Action President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest responded to tonight's vote in the Senate by releasing the following statement:

"This was a pro-abortion vote tonight because this bill provides for an unprecedented expansion of federally-funded abortion. Supporters argued that the debate needed to move forward - but life should be at the heart of any health care reform. There was no more important time for legislators to show their support for life than by leveraging their power now to demand that any health care reform bill genuinely respects life. What is health care about if it is not for preserving and protecting human life? Tonight the Senate failed to do just that. This legislation moves us toward redefining abortion as health care which is the ultimate objective of the abortion lobby led by Planned Parenthood. The flawed provisions in Reid's anti-life bill provide for federal funding for abortion, fail to protect medical providers who object to performing procedures that violate their conscience, and fail to prohibit federal funding of assisted suicide.

"In contrast to the Senate's partisan divide tonight, the House of Representatives demonstrated a bipartisan pro-life majority."

Americans United for Life Action is the legislative arm of Americans United for Life, the first national pro-life organization in America. In 1980, AUL successfully defended the Hyde Amendment before the U.S. Supreme Court in Harris v. McRae.