Washington D.C., Dec 11, 2009 / 06:29 am (CNA).- A total of fifteen self-described Catholic Senators voted to table the Nelson-Hatch-Casey Amendment, which would have significantly restricted abortion funding from the Senate health care bill.

The Amendment failed by a 54-45 vote on Tuesday. It was co-sponsored by Democrats Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Sen. Bob Casey, Jr. of Pennsylvania, who were joined by Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah. Senator Nelson is a Methodist, Sen. Hatch is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and Sen. Casey is a Catholic.

Besides Sen. Casey, Sen. Ted Kaufman of Delaware was the only other Catholic Democrat to vote against tabling the Nelson Amendment. Sen. Kaufman replaced Sen. Joseph Biden when he became the Vice-President of the United States.

The Catholic Democratic Senators who voted against the Nelson Amendment were Patrick Leahy of Vermont, John Kerry and Paul Kirk of Massachusetts, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Richard Durbin of Illinois, Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray of Washington state, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and Mark Begich of Alaska.

Sen. Kirk, appointed to replace Sen. Edward Kennedy, is the great-nephew of Archbishop of Boston William Henry Cardinal O’Connell.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was the only Catholic Republican to vote to table the Nelson Amendment.

In a Dec. 7 statement, Sen. Mikulski argued that the Nelson Amendment went “too far” and claimed the unamended bill is pro-life.

“Making it a debate about abortion is misguided and wrong,” she said.

In her view, the bill’s aims of providing universal access to health care, ending the denial of coverage based on pre-existing conditions and strengthening Medicare are “pro-life principles.”

She claimed that the Nelson Amendment’s allowance of a woman to buy an “abortion rider” to specially cover abortions was “like putting a scarlet ‘A’ on a woman’s forehead.”

“No woman or family will buy such a plan - because no woman expects or intends to have an abortion,” Sen. Mikulski said.

Jason Jones, founder of IAmWholeLife.com, said Sen. Mikulski’s statement showed a “fundamental misunderstanding.”

“There is no social justice when the life of an innocent child is taken by abortion; abortion destroys a whole life and protects no one,” Jones continued. “The greatest threat to human dignity in the United States is the destruction of human life in the womb, not a lack of ‘health care reform.”

Jones urged Sen. Mikulski to take a pledge recognizing that all human rights are based on a respect for all human life, “especially at its earliest stages in the womb.”

Marcy

Is there a point you’re making?

She has repeatedly told voters of MA that she will vote against the health care bill unless unlimited, on-demand, unrestricted and taxpayer-paid ABORTION is included in the legislation. The Nelson amendment abandons the Pro-Life movement.  Nelson and his Grand Bribe are not to be trusted.

Abortion has become a state-is-superior to individuals rights issue. In Massachusetts, candidate for US Senate Martha Coakley is enthusiastically and aggressively PRO-ABORTION (Special election to replace the Pro-Abortion Teddy Kennedy.) And, how do we know that she is enthusiastically Pro-Abortion? She has repeatedly told voters of MA that she will vote against the health care bill unless unlimited, on-demand, unrestricted and taxpayer-paid ABORTION is included in the legislation. Enthusiastically and aggressively PRO-ABORTION in my book. More than abortion, this is clearly an anti-Catholic Church attack.

A defeat of Coakley, purportedly the unbeatable Democrat in Massachusetts, would be a 10.0+ political earthquake from coast to coast. I hope all CatholicVote colleagues will do everything in their power to defeat Coakley.  Money and support and email to Massachusetts members supporting the opponent Scott Brown could shake the ignorant Pro-Abortion party to it’s Far Left core.

Always seeking and preaching VERITAS,

Charlie

Yes. Marvin, there is a point I am making.  The point is that there is a right and a wrong,  a good and a bad,  and your whole “new age”  philosophy that you are promoting is nothing but smoke and mirrors.  I’ve tried it, I’ve done it, and it is nothing but lies to excuse whatever behaviour you want to emply because it “feels right”  it “feels good” it seems to be the right thing.  Your philosophy is evil, it is wrong, and I will contnue to promote it as such, If I can help just one person from not going down that path…

Marcy

I don’t know what path you took but it seems like you feel you made some personal decisions that you later realized were not in line with the real you. I’m happy for you that you were able to recognize the real you through those “mistakes.”

Marvin,

Thanks for your concern, but the paths I took only serves to show me that I need to show my friends that only belief in God is the answer to everything, and that only true happiness comes from looking for God and following his commandments.  I hoped that one day you find this to be so…  God bless you, Marvin.

Interestingly enough, that here our Senator Casey really tried.  He tried to get abortion out of the bill.  Yet it wasnt going to happen.
Yet, he will still be bad mouthed, because even though he tired, that will not be noted.  What will be noted is that in the end, he likely would have voted to pass the final bill, to try and insure people of lower incomes.  So instead of looking at the man like he tried, he fought and he lost.
Yet, he still felt that healthcare was important and that some form of the bill should pass.  They will late on down the road condemn him.
That is one more reason why I feel that people are crazy.  They never look at the broad picture.  What people really want to do is point fingers and judge, rather than to see a person for what they tried to do and in the end ,they had to compromise because they lost.

How do some people believe that taxpayers should pay for abortions for those who choose to enjoy the heightened sensation of skin to skin sex over skin to condom sex, then have an unplanned pregnancy??? I prefer that people live rightly to begin with, but for those who CHOOSE to engage in risky behavior, why do they believe that OTHERS should pay for the consequences of their actions?

ManOnFire,

I do not support tax-payer funded abortion, but just so that you are aware, condoms are not always effective.  There is no form of birth control that is 100% effective, except abstinence.  In fact, 50% of all unintended pregnancies occur during the use of contraceptives.

ManOnFire,
The Catholic Church doesnt believe in using condoms.  Not that most church going Catholics even follow that rule.
I have a question for you all.  Is VIAGRA covered on medicare?  Because I think in some cases it is.  Why is ok to promote that type of thing, and taxpayers can pay for that?

Ma, do you have a link to the claim that 50% of unintended pregnancies that lead to abortion occur while using birth control? 50% sounds too high to me, but I’ll be glad to be wrong if you have a credible research link.

ManOnFire

I came across this info when I was doing some research about a month ago.  I believe it was from the Guttmacher institute, but you can check.  I do not have time to do that right now.  I remembered it because I thought it seemed awfully high as well, so that is why I double checked it. 

I have a female friend who was on birth control pills.  She is about to give birth any day now!  She’s not the only one I have known in my lifetime to get pregnant while on the pill.

Yes, the pill only works when taken every day. If a woman gets the flu and is vomiting, the pill might not ever be absorbed before it is vomited. Doctors tell women to use an alternate form of birth control when this happens.

Cindy, I don’t care if viagra is covered by insurance or not. Once it is off patent, it will be cheap as a generic.

ManOnFire,

I just re-read your post - I did not say anything about those pregnancies ending in abortion.  I just said they were unintended.  Hey, I had 3 unintended pregnancies myself.  One’s in college, one’s in high school, and one’s in middle school!  They don’t all end in abortions.  I was unintended too!