WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 -- The House Republican Conference issued the following news release:

House Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) issued the following statement today in support of H.R. 358, the Protect Life Act, to amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPFCA) to incorporate permanent, bill-wide statutory language to prevent federal funding for abortions through any program authorized or appropriated by the PPFCA. The bill would also protect the right of conscience for health care professionals by ensuring that private insurance companies are not mandated to cover abortion.

"This bill, like H.R. 3 that the House passed in May, helps codify what has de facto been our policy for 35 years through the Hyde Amendment. It ensures that taxpayers will never be compelled to subsidize abortions, and that our nation's private health care providers will never be forced to cover them.

Simply put, this bill effectively shuts down every path around the Hyde amendment hidden in the Democrats' government takeover of health care.

"In my heart and in my head, I can come to no other conclusion than that life begins at conception. As a matter of law, science and faith, there is no more fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution than the right to life. No American should ever be compelled against his or her will to contribute to the loss of innocent human life."

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