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Members voted 88-25 Wednesday to remove a procedural hold on an anti-abortion bill.
The bill now goes to Republican Gov. Haley Barbour. It would ban the public funding of abortion in any health exchanges that will be created under a federal health care law.
Critics say the bill was simply a way to pander to political conservatives because Mississippi has had a law since 2002 banning any federal, state or local tax dollars from being used for abortion.
Supporters of the bill say they want Mississippi to specify that no public money could pay for abortions once all provisions of a federal health overhaul become law by 2014.
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The bill is Senate Bill 3214.