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Miss. Senator Cosponsored Measure, Vows to Continue Uphill Fight for Bill to Become Law
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today voted to proceed to legislation that would establish a permanent and government-wide ban on the use of federal funding for abortions.
The Senate on Thursday voted 48-47 on a motion to proceed to the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act (S.109), which needed 60 votes to move forward. Hyde-Smith is an original cosponsor of this legislation.
“In the nearly 50 years since Roe v Wade, there has been a valiant and ongoing fight to protect innocent lives, and establishing a permanent ban on using taxpayer dollars would be a significant step forward,” Hyde-Smith said. “This is an uphill battle that won’t end with this bill, but it is worth the fight.”
The legislation is a combination of bills introduced by Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and others. It would establish a permanent, government-wide prohibition of taxpayer funding for abortion. A permanent prohibition would eliminate the need for annual congressional approval of a series of policies, like the Hyde Amendment.
The measure would also require all plans offered by Obamacare exchanges to disclose whether a plan includes coverage of elective abortion procedures, as well as the abortion surcharge embedded into abortion-covering plans.
Earlier this month, Hyde-Smith led a group of Senators in a letter that encouraged the Trump administration to move forward with a final rule that would ensure pro-life consumers enrolled in Obamacare health plans aren’t subsidizing abortion services.
