Democratic lawmakers put a $10 million price tag on the lives of children born with disabilities linked to the Zika virus on Tuesday, the Washington Examiner reports.

In a news conference, U.S. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer used the number to blame Republicans for an on-going fight over a federal funding bill to combat the Zika virus. Democrats have been holding up the aid funding for months because of a minor measure that prohibits funding from going to a few Planned Parenthood facilities in Puerto Rico.

Some studies have linked the virus to the brain disorder microcephaly and other birth defects; however, newer research suggests that the virus may not be to blame. Still, abortion advocates have been using the Zika virus as an excuse to push for more abortions on babies with disabilities. Some pro-abortion groups even have been scaring women into aborting their unborn babies without knowing if they have Zika or if their unborn baby has a disability.

Hoyer blamed Republicans for holding up aid for the virus by including “poison pill” language that prohibits funding from Planned Parenthood’s Puerto Rico affiliate. He also claimed that Republicans were trying to sabotage their own bill on purpose, according to the Washington Examiner.

“They passed it for their base and so they could say they passed a Zika bill,” Hoyer said. “They passed a Zika bill they knew wouldn’t pass.”

He continued: “Every child that comes down with Zika … is a tragedy in and of itself, from a health standpoint, from the child’s standpoint. From an economic standpoint, [Centers for Disease and Prevention Control Director Tom Frieden] says the costs are probably in the neighborhood of somewhere around $10 million over that child’s life. Obviously, the moral, human consideration is first. There are more than 16,800 Americans that have contracted the virus; 1,600 pregnant women that have been affected; and 17 babies have been born in America with birth defects related to the Zika virus.”

Earlier this week, Democrats rejected a Zika aid bill for a third time. The Hill reports the bill provides $622 million in funding to combat the mosquito-borne virus, which has been spreading throughout South America and into North America and across the world. The bill passed the U.S. House but Senate Democrats objected, arguing that American tax dollars should be used to fund abortions for women with Zika.

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The abortion giant Planned Parenthood has been heavily involved in Zika-related politics in the U.S. Currently, Planned Parenthood is sending staffers to knock on women’s doors in Miami, Florida to talk about the Zika virus, according to the Miami Herald. They also are giving pregnant women “Zika kits” and informational fliers.

In April, a Planned Parenthood activist said women who are pregnant and contract the virus ought to be able to abort their potentially disabled babies. The abortion activists called killing such babies a “human right.”

Currently, the Centers for Disease Control reports at least 584 pregnant women have been infected with Zika in the U.S. Five of their unborn babies died in miscarriages or abortions, while 16 other babies were born with birth defects in the U.S., the CDC reports.