But not to the will of the people.

The United States Senate succumbed tonight to pressure from the abortion lobby and voted 54-45 for the largest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade, said Brian Burch, President of CatholicVoteAction.org
 
Despite the valiant leadership of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), the Democratic-controlled Senate rejected a common sense proposal designed to keep abortion funds out of the the government run health care legislation.
 
“Americans firmly believe that abortion is not healthcare. Citizens of every state and political party petitioned their Senators with emails and phone calls to make sure that any reform bill would not include taxpayer support for abortion. The United States Senate ignored the will of the people and instead forged ahead with a pro-abortion healthcare bill that will now face even weaker public support,” said Burch.
 
“Senator Nelson showed true leadership this week, but today’s vote proved just how hard it is to be a pro-life Democrat in the United States Senate. Nelson’s fellow Democrats, including many Catholics, bowed to the pressure of the abortion lobby and approved this massive taxpayer handout to Planned Parenthood and the billion-dollar abortion industry.”

“Catholic voters who may have disagreed on whether this legislation was a good idea to begin with have no choice but to collectively oppose this health care bill.”

Michigan Democratic Representative Bart Stupak still hopes the protections his amendment in the House bill will find their way into the final version of health care legislation, once the smoke settles.

While many accusations have been thrown around in recent months, the intent behind our amendment is simple and clear: to continue current law, which says that there should be no federal financing of abortions. Our intent was not to change, add or take anything away from federal law. This goal is consistent with the opinion of a majority of Americans. Recent CNN and Washington Post-ABC News polls found that 61 percent of Americans do not want taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions. And while the Senate voted down a similar amendment on Tuesday, I’m hopeful that the spirit of our legislation will make it into the final bill.

I encourage other members of Congress to listen to the American people and the majority of House members who have made it very clear: We do not want taxpayer dollars financing abortion.