Published March 12, 2015 FoxNews.com
A bipartisan bill aimed at combating human sex trafficking has hit a major snag after Senate Democrats -- who unanimously voted to move the bill out of committee -- hit the brakes upon discovering a Republican-backed abortion provision.
Though the relatively modest 68-page bill has been available for nearly two months, it wasn't until this week that Senate Democrats said they noticed the language, and subsequently threatened to block the bill.
As drafted, the legislation would crack down on what lawmakers in both parties agree is a seamy underworld of drugs and human sex trafficking akin to modern-day slavery. Fines paid by those convicted of the sex-trafficking crimes would go into a fund to help victims.
But Democrats now are balking because the legislation also contains a Republican-inserted provision that bars the use of fines to pay for abortions, except in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the pregnant woman is in jeopardy.
"Democrats believe that divisive issues like this should be kept off what is otherwise a broadly bipartisan bill," a spokesman for Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said, adding that they're trying to find a "path forward."
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