Luetkemeyer Calls on Senate to Reject Pro-Abortion Amendment in Defense Bill

Press Release

As a longtime abortion opponent, U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer today joined 179 members of Congress in urging the U.S. Senate to reject a proposed measure in a defense bill that would weaken or undermine the current policy preventing Defense Department medical facilities from being used to perform abortions.

The letter, related to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011, was signed by Luetkemeyer and his colleagues and sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader John Boehner. The letter was necessitated by an amendment offered by Sen. Roland Burris that would overturn a 14-year-old law prohibiting DOD medical facilitates from being used to perform abortions.

"Military treatment centers -- which are dedicated to healing and caring for life -- should not facilitate the taking of the most innocent human life: a child in the womb," Luetkemeyer and his colleagues said in the letter. "When President Clinton allowed abortions in military facilities from 1993 to 1996, military physicians refused to perform or assist in elective abortions and in response, the administration sought to hire civilians to do abortions. If the Burris amendment were enacted, not only would taxpayer funded facilities be used to support abortion on demand, but resources could also be used to search for, hire, and transport new personnel simply so that abortions could be performed."

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