Protecting Life

Senator Rob Portman has a 100% rating from National Right to Life and has voted 77-0 in favor of the pro-life position on National Right to Life Committee key votes.  During his time in the House, he was an original cosponsor of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban.   In the Senate, he is the lead sponsor of the Child Custody Protection Act, which would make it a federal offense to transport a minor across state lines in order to get around state laws that require parental involvement in that minor’s abortion.  He is also an original cosponsor of the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would prohibit abortions 20 weeks after fertilization, the point where strong scientific evidence indicates that an unborn child can experience pain.  

Senator Portman is also a cosponsor of the DC Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would prohibit abortions in Washington, DC after 20 weeks of fertilization.  Current law in Washington, DC allows abortions for any reason through all nine months of pregnancy until birth. 

He has also cosponsored the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (PRENDA), which seeks to prohibit abortions for the purpose of choosing a sex of the child. 

Senator Portman has voted on numerous occasions to prohibit taxpayer funding of abortion, and he is a cosponsor of the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which codifies the Hyde Amendment and similar policies by permanently banning taxpayer funding of abortions across all federal programs.  He has also voted to block funding for taxpayer dollars to go to the United Nations while any member nation forces citizens or residents of that nation to undergo involuntary abortions.

In addition to supporting pro-life legislation, Senator Portman has also been very vocal on efforts to protect religious freedom.  He was one of the first to speak out against the overreaching HHS mandate on religious freedom, arguing that it violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, and he has supported amendments to protect the conscience rights of hospital or health care workers who are morally opposed to participating in abortion procedures or emergency contraception.