The accompanying table is a compilation of key roll call votes on pro-life issues in the U.S. House of Representatives between 1995 and 2004 for each incumbent Virginia Congressman running for reelection in November. Following is a summary of the issues with dates of votes shown in parenthesis:

1. Human Cloning Ban.
Votes on bills to prohibit the creation of human embryos by cloning. The House first rejected a "clone and kill" alternative that would have allowed embryos to be created by cloning for research. Passed House twice but Senate has failed to vote on the bills. (7/31/01, 2/27/03)

2. Partial-Birth Abortion Ban.
Votes on bills that place a national ban on the abortion method in which a living baby is partly delivered alive outside the mother's body before being killed. Bills passed House each time but only became law when signed by President Bush on 11/5/03. Previous bills were vetoed by President Clinton. (11/1/95, 3/27/96, 3/20/97, 10/8/97, 7/23/98, 4/5/00, 7/24/02, 6/4/03, 10/2/03)

3. Child Custody Protection Act.
Votes on a bill to make it a federal crime to transport a minor across a state line in circumvention of a state law (such as in Virginia) requiring parental or judicial involvement in the minor’s abortion decision. Passed House (7/15/98, 6/30/99, 4/17/02)

4. Unborn Victims of Violence Act.
Votes on bills to establish punishments for persons who injure or kill an unborn child while committing any of seventy already-established federal crimes of violence. During debate, a hostile substitute (Lofgren) amendment was defeated that would have increased punishment but would have recognized only one victim in such crimes -- the mother -- without recognizing any loss of human life. Passed House each time but the Senate failed to act until 3/25/04, after which it was signed by President Bush on 4/1/04. (9/30/99, 4/26/01, 2/26/04)

5. Foreign Aid for Abortion-Promoting Organizations.
Several votes were taken on amendments and resolutions to prohibit funding organizations that perform abortions (except for life of the mother, rape or incest) or that lobby to change foreign abortion laws (usually called the Mexico City policy); and to prohibit U.S. funding of the United Nations Population Fund which participates in China's coercive population-control program and promotes abortion in a variety of ways. (5/24/95, 6/28/95, 10/31/95, 11/15/95, 2/13/97, 6/5/97, 6/11/97, 9/4/97, 7/20/99, 7/29/99, 7/13/00, 5/16/01, 7/15/03)

6. Abortion Funding in DHHS (Hyde Amendment).
Vote on an updated Hyde amendment that not only prohibits funding abortions but also makes clear that states may not use federal funds to pay the costs of placing Medicaid patients in managed care plans (such as HMOs) that include coverage of abortion, with exceptions to save the life of the mother and in cases of rape and incest. Approved. (9/11/97)

7. Military Abortions.
Several votes were taken on Dept. of Defense authorization and appropriations bills regarding prohibiting military medical facilities from performing abortions. The law is in effect with exceptions for life endangerment, rape and incest. (6/15/95, 9/7/95, 5/14/96, 6/19/97, 5/20/98, 6/9/99, 5/18/00, 9/25/01, 5/10/02, 5/22/03, 5/19/04)

8. Abortions in Federal Prisons.
Votes on appropriations to remove the prohibition on funding prison abortions except for life endangerment and rape. Attempts failed. (7/26/95, 9/25/97, 8/4/99, 6/22/00, 7/17/01)

9. RU-486 Funding.
Votes on amendments to the Agriculture appropriations bill to prohibit the Food and Drug Administration from spending money for the testing or approval of any drug for the chemical inducement of abortion. Passed the House in 1998-99 but lost in 2000. (6/24/98, 6/8/99, 7/10/00)

10. Abortion Funding in D.C.
Current law prohibits use of any appropriated funds, including funds raised through local taxes, to pay for abortions except for the life of the mother, rape or incest. Votes on amendments by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) to remove the restriction. Amendments rejected. (7/22/96 & 8/6/98)

11. Abortion Insurance for Federal Employees.
Votes taken on appropriations which resulted in prohibition of payments for abortion with exceptions for life of the mother, rape and incest. (7/19/95, 7/17/96, 7/16/98, 7/15/99, 7/20/00)

12. Embryo Research.
Vote on a provision in the FY97 Labor-HHS appropriations bill banning the use of federal funding for early-stage embryo research. Provision preserved. (7/11/96)

13. Pain Relief Promotion Act.
Vote on a bill to promote appropriate pain management and palliative care, fostering critically important positive alternatives to euthanasia, and to ensure that narcotics and other federally controlled dangerous drugs could not be used to kill patients regardless of whether state law has legalized assisted suicide or euthanasia. Prior to passage, the House defeated two substitute amendments both of which would have had the effect of removing provisions preventing the prescription of federally controlled drugs to assist suicide. Passed House. (10/27/99)

14. Medicare Modernization.
Vote on a bill that, in addition to a new prescription drug benefit, allows older Americans the option to use their own money, if they wish, to get unrationed insurance for life-saving medical treatment under Medicare. Because Medicare is mandatory for older Americans, this empowers older Americans to avoid involuntary, Government-imposed denial of life-saving treatment, which is a form of involuntary euthanasia. Passed House and subsequently signed into law. (11/22/03)

15. Title 10.
Vote on amendment by Reps. Bob Livingston (R-LA) and Chris Smith (R-NJ) to eliminate the Title 10 program which funds 4,000 birth-control clinics nationwide that counsel regarding abortion as a “pregnancy management option” and refer to abortion clinics upon request. Affiliates of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s major abortion provider, receive about $33 million per year (although not directly paying for abortions). The amendment would redirect the same funding to other health programs for poor people. Amendment failed. (8/2/95)

16. Welfare reform.
Vote on amendment by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) to modify the “family cap mandate” to allow states to use grant funds to provide vouchers (rather than cash) for additional children. (This mandate prohibited any assistance for a child born to a mother already receiving assistance for an earlier child; it was opposed by NRLC and VSHL on the grounds that it encouraged a pregnant mother to resort to abortion.) Amendment passed. (3/22/95)

17. Abortion Training Mandate.
Directives issued by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education would generally require ob-gyn residency programs to provide training in performing abortions. This vote on a provision of the FY96 Dept. of Health & Human Services appropriations bill would prevent state governments or federal agencies from penalizing medical residency programs that do not provide training in abortion. Provision preserved. (8/3/95)

18. Physician Collective Bargaining.
Vote on an amendment by Rep. Tom Coburn (R-OK) to the Quality Health-Care Coalition Act to prohibit health care professionals from using their bargaining power to force health plans to perform or pay for abortions. Passed House. (6/30/00)

19. Abortion Non-Discrimination Act.
Vote on a bill to protect the rights of hospitals and other health care providers not to participate in abortions. Passed House. (9/25/02)

Published in VSHL Lifesaver, October, 2004