Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- On Wednesday, members of the U.S. Senate defeated an amendment sponsored by pro-life members to restore the Mexico City Policy that President Barack Obama rescinded last week. The policy prevents taxpayers from funding groups like Planned Parenthood that promote or perform abortions overseas.

Sen. Mel Martinez, a Republican from Florida, drafted an amendment offered to the SCHIP bill to ask members of the Senate to override Obama's executive order.

The Senate defeated the Martinez amendment on a 60-37 vote with only one Democrat, Sen Bill Nelson of Nebraska, joining most of the chamber's Republicans to support it.

A handful of pro-abortion Republicans joined Senate Democrats in opposing the effort to stop taxpayer money from going overseas to pay for abortions or lobbying foreign countries to reverse their pro-life laws.

The Family Research Council had asked pro-life senators to support the Martinez amendment, saying, "Americans should never be forced to pay for abortions--at home or abroad."

Meanwhile, pro-life Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, and several other pro-life members of the House have introduced legislation to restore the Mexico City Policy.

Congressman Smith is joined by Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Bart Stupak (D-MI), and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) in introducing H.R. 708.

“One of President Barrack Obama’s first acts in office was to issue an executive order to allow U.S. taxpayer money to flow to groups that perform abortions or actively work to overturn pro-life laws all over the world,” Smith told LifeNews.com in a statement. "It’s a sad statement about his list of priorities. With Americans facing an economic crisis the likes of which we've not seen in generations, he chooses to enact a policy that will redirect funds to foreign organizations promoting and conducting abortions."

“The Mexico City Policy represents common ground,” Smith said about the abortion debate.

“It has allowed the US to substantially fund international family planning without padding the budgets of radical groups intent on spreading the scourge of abortion. Under Mexico City policy, funding for family planning was not reduced one penny," he explained.

"The President’s decision will shift U.S. funding from true family planning programs to programs that provide and promote abortion with little or no regard for the sovereignty of democratic nations that oppose abortion as a method of family planning," Smith said.

“If President Obama truly seeks to reduce the number of abortions, he must resist funding groups who are driven to export and expand abortion as a method of family planning,” Smith added. “Abortion is never safe for the child and women deserve better than the tragic, irreversible consequences of abortion."

ACTION: 1) Contact your members of the Senate by going to http://www.Senate.gov and responding to how they voted on using your money to fund pro-abortion groups promoting and performing abortions overseas. See below for the Senate roll call. 2) Contact members of the House by going to http://www.House.gov and urging strong support for HR 708 to restore the Mexico City Policy.

Senate Vote on Pro-Life Martinez Amendment on Mexico City Policy
(Yea is a pro-life vote and Nay is a pro-abortion vote)

Alabama:	Sessions (R-AL), Yea	Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Alaska:	Begich (D-AK), Nay	Murkowski (R-AK), Nay
Arizona:	Kyl (R-AZ), Yea	McCain (R-AZ), Yea
Arkansas:	Lincoln (D-AR), Nay	Pryor (D-AR), Nay
California:	Boxer (D-CA), Nay	Feinstein (D-CA), Nay
Colorado:	Bennet (D-CO), Nay	Udall (D-CO), Nay
Connecticut:	Dodd (D-CT), Nay	Lieberman (ID-CT), Nay
Delaware:	Carper (D-DE), Nay	Kaufman (D-DE), Nay
Florida:	Martinez (R-FL), Yea	Nelson (D-FL), Nay
Georgia:	Chambliss (R-GA), Not Voting	Isakson (R-GA), Yea
Hawaii:	Akaka (D-HI), Nay	Inouye (D-HI), Nay
Idaho:	Crapo (R-ID), Yea	Risch (R-ID), Yea
Illinois:	Burris (D-IL), Nay	Durbin (D-IL), Nay
Indiana:	Bayh (D-IN), Nay	Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Iowa:	Grassley (R-IA), Yea	Harkin (D-IA), Nay
Kansas:	Brownback (R-KS), Yea	Roberts (R-KS), Yea
Kentucky:	Bunning (R-KY), Yea	McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Louisiana:	Landrieu (D-LA), Nay	Vitter (R-LA), Yea
Maine:	Collins (R-ME), Nay	Snowe (R-ME), Nay
Maryland:	Cardin (D-MD), Nay	Mikulski (D-MD), Nay
Massachusetts:	Kennedy (D-MA), Not Voting	Kerry (D-MA), Nay
Michigan:	Levin (D-MI), Nay	Stabenow (D-MI), Nay
Minnesota:	Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay
Mississippi:	Cochran (R-MS), Yea	Wicker (R-MS), Yea
Missouri:	Bond (R-MO), Yea	McCaskill (D-MO), Nay
Montana:	Baucus (D-MT), Nay	Tester (D-MT), Nay
Nebraska:	Johanns (R-NE), Yea	Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Nevada:	Ensign (R-NV), Yea	Reid (D-NV), Nay
New Hampshire:	Gregg (R-NH), Yea	Shaheen (D-NH), Nay
New Jersey:	Lautenberg (D-NJ), Nay	Menendez (D-NJ), Nay
New Mexico:	Bingaman (D-NM), Nay	Udall (D-NM), Nay
New York:	Gillibrand (D-NY), Nay	Schumer (D-NY), Nay
North Carolina:	Burr (R-NC), Yea	Hagan (D-NC), Nay
North Dakota:	Conrad (D-ND), Nay	Dorgan (D-ND), Nay
Ohio:	Brown (D-OH), Nay	Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Oklahoma:	Coburn (R-OK), Yea	Inhofe (R-OK), Yea
Oregon:	Merkley (D-OR), Nay	Wyden (D-OR), Nay
Pennsylvania:	Casey (D-PA), Nay	Specter (R-PA), Nay
Rhode Island:	Reed (D-RI), Nay	Whitehouse (D-RI), Nay
South Carolina:	DeMint (R-SC), Yea	Graham (R-SC), Yea
South Dakota:	Johnson (D-SD), Nay	Thune (R-SD), Yea
Tennessee:	Alexander (R-TN), Yea	Corker (R-TN), Yea
Texas:	Cornyn (R-TX), Yea	Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
Utah:	Bennett (R-UT), Yea	Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Vermont:	Leahy (D-VT), Nay	Sanders (I-VT), Nay
Virginia:	Warner (D-VA), Nay	Webb (D-VA), Nay
Washington:	Cantwell (D-WA), Nay	Murray (D-WA), Nay
West Virginia:	Byrd (D-WV), Nay	Rockefeller (D-WV), Nay
Wisconsin:	Feingold (D-WI), Nay	Kohl (D-WI), Nay
Wyoming:	Barrasso (R-WY), Yea	Enzi (R-WY), Yea

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