Senate Bill 2578 that was introduced by U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) was defeated as the Republicans were able to maintain their filibuster. The Senate vote for cloture was 56-43. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was the only Democrat who voted against cloture. Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Susan Collins (R-ME) were the only two Republicans to vote in favor of cloture.
The bill had it passed would have forced all health care plans to comply with any rule made by the U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services (HHS). It would have overridden any federal law, including the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, that stood in conflict with any mandate given by HHS.
“While the Senate rightfully rejected this unjust bill, today is a reminder of the need to stand vigilant in defense of our God-given freedoms against those who would seek to take them away,” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Casey Mattox said in a released statement. “Echoing our Founding Fathers, Ronald Reagan once said that ‘freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.’ It has been 20 years – one generation – since Congress passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and many of its sponsors have already turned their backs on our first freedom. We can be thankful for now that not enough of them did.”
This afternoon Women Speak Out PAC, a partner of the national pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, blasted Senators Kay Hagan (D-NC), Mark Pryor (D-AR), and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) for voting for S.2578. All three senators are in vulnerable seats for Democrats.
“Senate Democrats and a few wayward Republicans just voted against religious freedom for their constituents and all Americans. It’s a radical vote. This bill would pave the way for taxpayer funding of almost all abortions as ‘preventive services,’” said Women Speak Out PAC President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “Contraception is widely available. There is no bogey man or woman fighting to change that. In backing this legislation, Senators Hagan, Pryor, and Landrieu stand with the abortion lobby, not the people who elected them.”