(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Sen. David Vitter today commended the hundreds of thousands of participants in the 40th annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., including many Louisianians who traveled to speak out in defense of the right to life on the National Mall and in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. Vitter spoke to a group of nearly 400 Louisianians, including one of his daughters in high school, yesterday and also addressed the Louisiana Life March on January 13th in Baton Rouge.

“This movement is growing and gaining momentum every year, and we’re changing hearts and minds around Louisiana and across the country,” said Vitter. “I’m proud that Louisiana was recently recognized as the number one pro-life state in the country, but we still have a long way to go. With the persistent witness of pro-life folks – including many, many young people – I’m confident that we will be successful.”

Vitter reintroduced his bill to amend Title X of the Public Health Service Act to prohibit taxpayer dollars in the form of family planning grants from being awarded to entities that perform abortions, a practice that allows other funds to be used for abortion practices.   Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has authored the companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Vitter and Blackburn authored an op-ed about the measure today in conjunction with the March for Life.

He also reintroduced his Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act, a bill that would make it illegal to obtain an abortion due to a gender preference.   Asia has already lost over 160 million unborn baby girls to gender discrimination abortions, and according to a 2009 study in the American Economic Journal, over the span of 13 years at least 2,000 Asian American baby girls were lost in the United States to gender discrimination abortions.

“It’s flat out morally wrong to assign different values to unborn babies’ lives based on gender, but believe it or not, it happens,” added Vitter. “We should have zero tolerance for this kind of discrimination.”

A list of the bills introduced today by Vitter is as follows:

• Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act
• Ethical Stem Cell Research Tax Credit Act
• Abortion Nondiscrimination Act
• Pregnant Women Health and Safety Act

Vitter has been a consistent advocate for the sanctity of human life in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representative, earning a 100% pro-life voting record from the National Right to Life Committee.