NEW ORLEANS – Despite emails and calls from his district and the results of a recent poll, U.S. Congressman Troy Carter voted with pro-abortion House Democrats yesterday and approved the Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act, or H.R. 4373, by a vote of 217 to 212. Efforts to add pro-life appropriations riders to the bill, including the Hyde Amendment, failed.
Louisiana Right to Life and Louisiana Black Advocates for Life recently released the results of a commissioned poll showing that the majority of likely voters of Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District, represented by Congressman Carter, are opposed to the taxpayer funding of abortion. The pro-life organizations hoped Carter would consider these results when making his vote. Unfortunately he didn’t, even though the poll found that 51% of the 2nd Congressional District oppose the tax funding of abortion, while only 31% support it. The poll also found that 44% of the 2nd Congressional District identified as “pro-choice,” while 42% identified as “pro-life.”
The Hyde Amendment, applied to Labor, Health and Human Services funding, has been adopted in the federal budget every year since 1976 and prevents Medicaid dollars from funding abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and situations where the life of the mother is in danger. The Hyde Amendment has been received bipartisan support of elected officials for many years.
If the budget is adopted by the Senate as is, abortions would be funded for Medicaid-eligible women by the tax dollars of Americans for the first time since 1976.
Louisiana Right to Life New Orleans Director Sarah Zagorski said: “We are disappointed that Congressman Carter sided with pro-abortion members of Congress today rather than the majority of his constituents, who oppose the taxpayer funding of abortion. We know we may not always agree with Congressman Carter on abortion, but our hope was that protecting Americans from paying for abortion with tax dollars would be an area we could find commonality.”
