WASHINGTON, D.C., May 4, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The House on Wednesday afternoon voted 251-175 to pass H.R. 3, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which makes permanent and universal the annually-approved Hyde amendment. In its current form, the Hyde amendment, which bans federal funding for abortion except for in cases of rape and incest, requires annual approval.
The bill was authored by veteran pro-life leader Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and sported at least 227 co-sponsors by the time of the vote.
“When public funding and facilitation for abortion isn’t available, children have a greater chance at survival,” said Smith in the general debate before the final vote this afternoon.
“I remember the late Congressman Henry Hyde being moved literally to tears ... when he learned that the Hyde amendment had likely saved the lives of more than one million babies, who today are getting on with their lives, going to school, forging a career,” he added.
In the final vote, all Republicans either voted for or sponsored the bill; 16 Democrats favored it as well (Rep.s Altmire, Boren, Costello, Critz, Cuellar, Donnelly, Holden, Kaptur, Kildee, Lipinski, Matheson, McIntyre, Peterson, Rahall, Ross of Arizona, and Shuler).
The bill is expected to meet with stiffer odds in the Democrat-led Senate, which in March struck down a measure to de-fund abortion giant Planned Parenthood that had strongly passed in the House. President Obama has already threatened to veto H.R. 3.
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