Abortion funding was once again front and center today as the U.S. Senate took up its own version of health-care reform. The House voted earlier this month to approve an unprecedented health care reform package that is expected to cost taxpayers more than $1 trillion over the next decade.
The House version included a pro-life amendment from Reps. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., and Joe Pitts, R-Pa., that prevents taxpayer money from funding abortion.
White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod has indicated President Barack Obama may intervene to strip out the pro-life language.
Stupak dismissed that claim.
"They're not going to take it out," he told Fox News. "If they do, health care will not move forward."
Bryan Fischer, director of issues analysis at the American Family Association, said Stupak has been strong on this issue.
"If Representative Stupak's Democratic pro-life coalition holds together," he said, "I think they can kill the whole health-care bill."
Beginning today, Focus on the Family Action is sponsoring patch-through phone calls targeting 15 senators. That means an operator calls someone and then, if desired, connects the individual with his or her senator's office.
Ashley Horne, federal policy analyst at Focus Action, said the message to the Senate is clear.
"Vote 'No' on any bill or procedure that does not, at a minimum, include the Stupak pro-life language," she said.
