House Republicans turned back an effort by pro-abortion Democrats to force taxpayers to fund abortion research in a federal health care program.
Today, the House considered H.R. 6, the “21st Century Cures Act” this week and the NIH and Cures Innovation Fund established by the bill includes language similar to the Hyde Amendment to prevent abortion research funding under the bill. However, Rep. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat, pushed an amendment to strike the pro-life language and the full House voted on her plan to fund abortions.
The House defeated the Lee amendment by a vote of 176-245 with all Republicans and 5 Democrats (Cartwright of PA, Cuellar of TX, Kaptur of OH, Lipinski of IL and Peterson of MN) voting against the amendment. Had the Lee amendment passed, the Innovation Fund could be used to fund research on abortion techniques.
During the debate over the amendment, pro-life Congressman Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania spoke against it:
Meanwhile, pro-life Rep. Marsha Blackburn also voted against the amendment and spoke out against it on the House floor:
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