The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a bill that will force taxpayers to pay for abortion in the nation's capital – and now the Senate is considering the measure.

The House voted 219-208 for the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, H.R. 3170, July 16, and now a companion bill is being considered by the Senate. It provides $768 million in federal money for the Washington, D.C., government.

Restrictions on using taxpayer dollars for abortions were lifted when the House rejected an amendment that would have retained a ban on using local taxpayer funds to pay for abortions in Washington, D.C.

Because Congress maintains legislative authority over the district, it determines whether local tax money can be used to pay for abortions as well. While the House-approved bill still bans use of federal funds for abortions, it allows locally raised tax revenue to pay for the cost of terminating pregnancies.

However, critics claim the ban on federal funding is pointless because the district combines federal and local funds and can simply claim the money used for abortions stems from "local" sources.

Barrett Duke, vice president of public policy and research for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, told the Baptist Press the House vote was "extremely troubling."

"Many of us fought especially hard to prevent the abortion funding and we almost won, but in the end the pro-abortion House leadership twisted enough arms to squeak out a win," Duke said. "The District of Columbia already has one of the highest abortion rates in the nation."

He said the bill guarantees that the abortion rate will increase, and that taxpayers will be forced to pay for the increase

The House vote took place less than one week after President Obama told Pope Benedict at the Vatican that he "wants to reduce abortion" in the U.S.

"President Obama's decision to force American taxpayers to foot the bill for abortions in the District of Columbia will cause the deaths of at least 1,000 more unborn children each year," Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, said in a statement.

The bill was received in the Senate this week and placed on the legislative calendar.

In addition to allowing funding for abortions, the bill also limited funding for the first federally funded private school voucher program in the United States – essentially phasing it out. The D.C. School Choice Incentive Act of 2003 awarded scholarships of up to $7,500 so low-income students could attend private schools. H.R. 3170 limits funding to $12.2 million for existing scholarship recipients and excludes siblings and other public school students from receiving scholarships. Amendments offered by Rep. Frelinghuysen, R-N., to increase funding to $14 million and open the program to siblings was defeated.

According to the GOP's Legislative Digest, taxpayers will also be forced to pay for drug needle exchange programs. The bill removed restrictions on using public funds for needle exchanges. Since fiscal year 1999, programs that offered clean hypodermic needles to drug users had been prohibited from receiving federal funds.

H.R. 3170 also removes a ban on use of taxpayer funds for domestic partnerships in the district. A 2001 restriction prohibited federal dollars from being used to provide employment, health or government benefits to unmarried domestic partners, but the language of the bill no longer includes that limitation.

Likewise, the controversial bill also eliminated a 1999 prohibition on using federal funds to implement a ballot initiative legalizing medical marijuana

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