Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser released the following statement today after the U.S. Senate failed to pass the Health Care Freedom Act last night:
“The pro-life grassroots nationwide worked tirelessly in 2016 to ensure the electoral victories necessary to make major pro-life legislative gains. With a pro-life House, Senate, and White House, last night we were poised for a big win. It was not the night for that win.
“This is a set-back in the middle of a succession of tremendous gains. It is emblematic of all successful human rights movements in our nation’s history. The power of the movement which strikes at the human heart and the inexorable march of gains, while interrupted at times, cannot and will not cease until clear and certain victory. Then and only then will we rest.”
“There is also encouragement and hope by the progress that has been made. The provision to redirect Planned Parenthood’s funding was non-controversial. In fact, removing the provision would have meant an unsustainable loss of votes from all factions of the Republican conference and an early demise to the bill.
“Moving forward, on the political front, we must recruit and elect courageous Senators in 2018 who are fully committed to our priorities and will keep their word. While we currently have a Republican majority in the Senate, we need a bigger, bolder, more courageous pro-life majority. SBA List’s field operation – which knocked more than 1.1 million doors in 2016 – has already begun in two 2018 battlegrounds, Florida and Ohio, with an aggressive plan to move into more battlegrounds by the end of the year.”
