WASHINGTON (November 7, 2009) -- The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote late TODAY on one of the most important pro-life proposals to come before Congress in years.

 

Late last night, the House Democratic leadership very reluctantly granted permission for the House to vote TODAY on the Stupak-Pitts Amendment to the health care bill (H.R. 3962). 

 

The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) strongly supports the Stupak-Pitts Amendment.  The amendment has been extensively discussed in past NRLC press releases (for example, here) and letters to Congress (for example, here). 

 

The Stupak-Pitts Amendment would remove the two major pro-abortion components from H.R. 3962:  (1)  The amendment would permanently prohibit the new federal government insurance program, the "public option," from paying for abortion, except to save the life of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest; and (2) the amendment would permanently prohibit the use of the new federal premium subsidies ("affordability credits") to purchase private insurance plans that cover abortion (except to save the life of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest).   Note:  The Stupak-Pitts Amendment explicitly allows private insurance companies to sell insurance policies that cover abortion (either abortion alone, or abortion coverage along with other coverage) to persons who pay for such policies entirely with their personal funds.  Some pro-abortion groups have claimed that the Stupak-Pitts amendment would prohibit private companies from selling abortion coverage even to a person who receives no government subsidy, but this is false.

 

A close vote is expected on the Stupak-Pitts Amendment.  The office of any U.S. House member in Washington may be reached through the Capitol Switchboard, 202-225-3121.  However, that Switchboard might be overloaded today.  You can obtain the direct-dial numbers for any House office by typing in a zip code at the NRLC Legislative Action Center here.  Also, the NRLC Legislative Action Center can provide you with fax numbers and district-office phone numbers of U.S. House members, here. 

 

Note:  Several recent NRLC legislative alerts had anticipated that it would be necessary for our side to defeat the "rule" on H.R. 3962, in order to pave the way for a vote on the Stupak-Pitts Amendment.  But that step is no longer necessary, because the House Democratic leadership reluctantly concluded that they could not pass a "rule" that excluded the Stupak-Pitts Amendment.  Therefore, NRLC is no longer opposing the "rule" on H.R. 3962.  Your efforts should now be focused on urging House members to vote YES on the Stupak-Pitts Amendment!

 

For further information on the abortion-related components of H.R. 3962, see the NRLC website page here.

 

News media inquiries regarding the bill, the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, and related issues, can be directed to NRLC at 202-626-8820 or Legfederal@aol.com