Subsidizing Abortions. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) proposed a measure that would allow abortions to be included as medical expenses in the health care coverage the federal government subsidizes for its employees. Representative Curt Weldon (R-PA), opposing DeLauro’s proposal, explained that "the unborn baby in the womb is not a potential life. It meets all of the criteria of a life, the criteria that I used to use as a practicing physician to determine whether somebody is alive or dead: a beating heart, active brain waves."
Rep. DeLauro’s proposal, an amendment to H.R. 2490, was rejected by the House on July 15, 1999 by a vote of 188-230 (Roll Call 301). We have assigned pluses to nays.
