"Marco Rubio voted against funding health clinics that provide critical care during this public health emergency," the ad says. | AP Photo Rubio hit for opposing abortions for women with Zika

A prominent abortion rights group is attacking Marco Rubio over his opposition to abortion rights for women infected with the Zika virus.

NARAL Pro-Choice America is spending $175,000 to air a TV ad in Orlando and West Palm Beach targeting the vulnerable incumbent starting Monday, according to a source familiar with the buy. While the Republican senator has voted for every Zika funding proposal to come through the Senate, the GOP majority has failed to approve new emergency spending to combat the mosquito-borne disease.


Senate Democrats are currently blocking a $1.1 billion measure approved by the House. NARAL says Rubio's vote for that bill, which contains restrictions on women's health care funding, amounts to "putting his agenda ahead of the health and safety of women and families."

The proposal will receive a vote in the Senate on Tuesday, when Congress returns from its summer recess.

"Marco Rubio voted against funding health clinics that provide critical care during this public health emergency. And Marco Rubio continues to be against a woman's right to choose an abortion, even if they are infected with the Zika virus," the ad says.

Rubio said last month that while it is a "difficult question" whether to allow an exception for women with Zika to get an abortion, he would "err on the side of life." Rubio opposes abortion in all cases including rape and incest, a position he maintained running for president. He did vote last year for a ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy that included those exceptions, reasoning that it would help achieve fewer abortions.

"I’m pro-life. And I’m strongly pro-life. I believe all human life should be protected by our law, irrespective of the circumstances or condition of that life," Rubio said.

Rubio's general election opponent, Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy, has attacked the senator as "extreme" on the issue. Rubio's campaign counters that Murphy, by voting against the House Republicans' Zika bill, has done nothing to break the partisan impasse.

"Marco was one of the first Republicans to support the president's funding request and has supported every single Zika proposal that has come up in the Senate," said Olivia Perez-Cubas, a spokeswoman for Rubio.

Congress' inability to deliver more funding to combat Zika is playing a major role in the Florida Senate race. Zika has already landed in several neighborhoods, and the Senate vote on Tuesday is expected to fail again over Democratic objections to its use of Obamacare funding and health care restrictions.

The Obama administration has asked for $1.9 billion to fight the disease, but the House and Senate have failed to come up with a compromise that can pass each chamber. Congress faces a Sept. 30 deadline to keep the government funded, and Zika money could be tucked into that must-pass legislation, aides in both parties said.