On March 19, 2010, Congressmen Bart Stupak (D-Mi.), Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio), and nine other members of the House of Representatives introduced a resolution (H. Con Res. 254).  This resolution, if enacted, would have removed pro-abortion provisions from the Senate-passed health care bill (H.R. 3590), and added bill-wide, permanent prohibitions on any provision of the bill being used to authorize pro-abortion subsidies or administrative decrees.  However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not agree to allow a vote on this resolution.  Regrettably, Stupak and Driehaus were among the House members who then voted to pass H.R. 3590, on March 21, 2010, even without the pro-life protections proposed in H. Con Res. 254, and the bill was enacted into law.  Subsequently, Stupak, Driehaus, and some of the other claimed that H.R. 3590 did not contain federal subsidies for abortion -- but if that is what they thought, why did they introduce this proposed amendment to remove those provisions?

    

To view the summary of the resolution/amendment prepared by the Library of Congress, click here.

To view the actual text of H. Con. Res. 254 -- with the names of the original co-sponsors printed on the first page -- click here (PDF document).

To return to the index of documents regarding the criminal complaint of Congressman Steve Driehaus, click here.