As President Obama took the stage the night before the House was to vote on his administration’s health-care bill, he knew Americans like 16-year-old Jacob Mescher, of Dubuque, would be watching.

Pro life protesters stand outside Planned Parenthood in Downtown Dubuque.

The Affordable Health Care for America Act is the Obama administration’s first major test in Congress. The bill aims to decrease health-care costs and expand coverage to quality health care to all citizens while allowing Americans to choose their own health-insurance provider.

“American families and businesses are counting on us,” said President Obama in a White House speech. “This is why they sent us here, to make their lives better.”

For Mescher and other pro-life supporters who were protesting outside of Planned Parenthood in downtown Dubuque, this bill means much more. U.S. Reps. Brad Ellsworth and Bart Stupak, both Democrats, proposed and passed an amendment that would ban all federal funds for abortion-related services as part of the public option for health care. A small victory for pro-life supporters.

“We’re very pleased,” Mescher said. “It’s not everything we’d like in a box, but we’re willing to work with it and it’s a step in the right direction.”

Late Friday night, lawmakers went in and out of the office of Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House. When she emerged, she and other pro-choice Democrats knew that in order to get their administration’s health-care bill passed, the Stupak Amendment would have to be included.

As the bill passed the House that night, both praise and criticisms were heard across the country. Planned Parenthood, a women’s health clinic with offices in Dubuque, released a statement opposing the amendment.

“As a health-care provider, Planned Parenthood would very much like to see health care reform passed,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, in a press release. “But the Stupak Amendment would put women’s health in jeopardy and undermine real health reform.”

The amendment passed with 238 votes in favor and 194 voted against. All votes against were by Democrats, while 64 Democrats were in favor of the amendment.

Dubuque County Right to Life president Steven Brady said, “These members who cast their votes in favor of the amendment understood that the majority of Americans now consider themselves to be pro-life.”

Representative Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, voted against the amendment, but his office was silent about his vote throughout the week, stating, “The Affordable Health Care for America Act is good for Iowa’s families, seniors and medical providers, and that’s why I voted for the bill on the House floor.”

It is still unclear when the Senate will vote on House Resolution 3962, but for Dubuque protesters the fight to end abortion continues.

“This is definitely a victory for our position, but it’s only the first step,”said Mescher as he held up his sign against abortion to a honking car as it passed by.