Senate Votes 53-43 to Overturn President Bush's Pro-Life "Mexico City Policy"

Shown below is the July 9, 2003, roll call by which the U.S. Senate adopted an amendment that, if enacted, would overturn a key pro-life policy of President Bush.

However, the pro-abortion amendment is not expected to become law because the House of Representatives will not accept it, and President Bush would veto any bill to which it is attached.

The amendment was offered by pro-abortion Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Ca.) to the State Department authorization bill (S. 925). The Boxer Amendment would nullify the so-called "Mexico City Policy," a presidential order that bars U.S. foreign aid funds for "family planning" programs overseas from being given to private organizations that perform abortions (with narrow exceptions) or promote abortion (for example, by working to repeal pro-life laws).

This pro-life policy, originally enforced by President Reagan and the first President Bush, was nullified by President Clinton from 1993-2001. The policy was restored in January 2001 by President George W. Bush.

Pro-life Senator Dick Lugar (R-In.) moved to table (kill) the Boxer Amendment, a motion supported by NRLC. However, by a vote of 43-53, the Senate refused to table the Boxer Amendment (Roll Call No. 267), which is the roll call shown below.

The pro-abortion amendment was then adopted on a voice vote.

The version of the State Department bill passed by the House of Representatives does not contain any such pro-abortion provision, and the White House has threatened to veto the entire bill unless the Boxer Amendment is dropped in a House-Senate conference committee. Therefore, the "Mexico City Policy" is expected to remain in force.

To see NRLC's "scorecards" of how members of the U.S. House and Senate have voted on other key pro-life issues, visit the Legislative Action Center on the NRLC website at www.nrlc.org.

KEY

X Pro-life vote

O Pro-abortion vote

? Absent or not voting

Alabama

Richard Shelby (R) X

Jeff Sessions (R) X

Alaska

Ted Stevens (R) O

Lisa Murkowski (R) O

Arizona

John McCain (R) X

Jon Kyl (R) X

Arkansas

Blanche Lincoln (D) O

Mark Pryor (D) O

California

Dianne Feinstein (D) O

Barbara Boxer (D) O

Colorado

Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R) O

Wayne Allard (R) X

Connecticut

Christopher Dodd (D) O

Joseph Lieberman (D) O

Delaware

Joseph Biden (D) O

Thomas Carper (D) O

Florida

Bob Graham (D) NV

Bill Nelson (D) O

Georgia

Zell Miller (D) NV

Saxby Chambliss (R) X

Hawaii

Daniel Inouye (D) O

Daniel Akaka (D) O

Idaho

Larry Craig (R) X

Michael Crapo (R) X

Illinois

Richard Durbin (D) O

Peter Fitzgerald (R) X

Indiana

Richard Lugar (R) X

Evan Bayh (D) O

Iowa

Charles Grassley (R) X

Tom Harkin (D) O

Kansas

Sam Brownback (R) X

Pat Roberts (R) X

Kentucky

Mitch McConnell (R) X

Jim Bunning (R) X

Louisiana

John Breaux (D) X

Mary Landrieu (D) O

Maine

Olympia Snowe (R) O

Susan Collins (R) O

Maryland

Paul Sarbanes (D) O

Barbara Mikulski (D) O

Massachusetts

Edward Kennedy (D) O

John Kerry (D) NV

Michigan

Carl Levin (D) O

Debbie Stabenow (D) O

Minnesota

Mark Dayton (D) O

Norm Coleman (R) X

Mississippi

Thad Cochran (R) X

Trent Lott (R) X

Missouri

Christopher Bond (R) X

Jim Talent (R) X

Montana

Max Baucus (D) O

Conrad Burns (R) X

Nebraska

Chuck Hagel (R) X

Ben Nelson (D) O

Nevada

Harry Reid (D) O

John Ensign (R) X

New Hampshire

Judd Gregg (R) X

John Sununu (R) X

New Jersey

Jon Corzine (D) O

Frank Lautenberg (D) O

New Mexico

Pete Domenici (R) X

Jeff Bingaman (D) O

New York

Charles Schumer (D) O

Hillary Clinton (D) O

North Carolina

John Edwards (D) NV

Elizabeth Dole (R) X

North Dakota

Kent Conrad (D) O

Byron Dorgan (D) O

Ohio

Mike DeWine (R) X

George Voinovich (R) X

Oklahoma

Don Nickles (R) X

James Inhofe (R) X

Oregon

Ron Wyden (D) O

Gordon Smith (R) O

Pennsylvania

Arlen Specter (R) O

Rick Santorum (R) X

Rhode Island

Jack Reed (D) O

Lincoln Chafee (R) O

South Carolina

Ernest Hollings (D) O

Lindsey Graham (R) X

South Dakota

Thomas Daschle (D) O

Tim Johnson (D) O

Tennessee

Bill Frist (R) X

Lamar Alexander (R) X

Texas

Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) X

John Cornyn (R) X

Utah

Orrin Hatch (R) X

Robert Bennett (R) X

Vermont

Patrick Leahy (D) O

James Jeffords (I) O

Virginia

John Warner (R) O

George Allen (R) X

Washington

Patty Murray (D) O

Maria Cantwell (D) O

West Virginia

Robert Byrd (D) O

John Rockefeller (D) O

Wisconsin

Herbert Kohl (D) O

Russ Feingold (D) O

Wyoming

Craig Thomas (R) X

Michael Enzi (R) X