Skip to content
Their Record

Senate Roll Call 255, 99th Congress · October 24, 1985

TO TABLE THE HELMS, NC) AMENDMENT TO HR 2965, A BILL MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE DEPARTMENTS OF COMMERCE, JUSTICE, STATE AND THE JUDICIARY FOR FISCAL 1986, TO PROHIBIT THE USE OF FUNDS FOR THE FEDERAL PRISON SYSTEM TO BE USED FOR ABORTIONS FOR INMATES, EXCEPT WHEN THE WOMAN'S LIFE IS IN DANGER.

46 yea · 46 nay8 not voting or present
Democrat30 yea · 15 nay
Republican16 yea · 31 nay

Solid = yea, faded = nay.

The measure

H.R. 2965

Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriation Act, 1986

Policy area: Economics and Public Finance — assigned by Library of Congress subject specialists, not by this site.

How this vote is scored

Which tracked issues this roll call counts toward, and which way a yea vote moves a member on each. Direction is decided per issue, because one bill can push two issues opposite ways.

  • Abortion & ContraceptionA yea counts toward “Expand access”

    model(0.95): Tabling the amendment blocks a ban on funding abortions for inmates, protecting access.

    Tagged by: keyword:abortions

    Axis: Expand access ← → Restrict access

  • Criminal JusticeA yea counts toward “Reform-oriented”

    model(0.80): Tabling a restriction on inmate healthcare access prevents imposing more punitive conditions.

    Tagged by: keyword:prison

    Axis: Reform-oriented ← → Punitive

  • Spending & BudgetDirection unreadable — not scored

    excluded:model-unclear (0.90) An abortion rider is a policy fight where fiscal impact is incidental.

    Tagged by: policy-area:Economics and Public Finance

    Axis: Fiscal expansion ← → Fiscal restraint

Who voted which way

Every member recorded on this roll call, with the party they sat with at the time.

Yea (46)

Nay (46)

Not voting or present (8)

Vote records come from Voteview (voteview.com); bill titles and policy areas from the congress.gov API. See methodology for how the record was built.