Health Care

Pro-Life Group Strips Stupak Of Award

Christina Bellantoni | March 21, 2010, 8:43PM

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI)

The anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List group announced tonight they will strip Rep. Bart Stupak of the "Defender of Life" award that he's received several times. The group blasted Stupak's role in forging a compromise with the White House on abortion language in an executive order and said he is no longer truly "pro-life."

The group says President Obama's executive order was "unacceptable" and they are redoubling efforts to elect "true" pro-life candidates.

SBA List Candidate Fund President Marjorie Dannenfelser issued a statement saying the group had been planning to honor Stupak (D-MI) for his efforts at their Campaign for Life Gala scheduled for Wednesday. "We will no longer be doing so. By accepting this deal from the most pro-abortion President in American history, Stupak has not only failed to stand strong for unborn children, but also for his constituents and pro-life voters across the country," Dannenfelser said in the statement.

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Health Care

Rep. Marcy Kaptur: I'm Voting Yes On Reform

Evan McMorris-Santoro | March 21, 2010, 10:46AM

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) is a yes on reform today, according to an interview she gave to a local ABC station in Ohio this morning.

Kaptur votes yes on Stupak and yes on reform back when it passed the House the first time last year. In recent days, she's aligned herself with the Catholic Bishops, who have urged a no vote on the Senate bill in the House over the Senate bill's language regarding abortion funding.

Today, Kaptur appears to have changed her tune, coming down on the side of other Stupak amendment supporters who now plan to vote for the Senate bill. Check out the video of Kaptur giving her reasons for voting yes after the jump.

Health Care

Stupak: 'Protect The Sanctity Of Life' And You Can 'Probably' Get My Vote (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | March 19, 2010, 10:31AM

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI)

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) appeared on Good Morning America, and told George Stephanopoulos that no deal has been made on the health care bill -- but that he does want to vote for it.

Stephanopoulos asked about the idea floated by Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), another pro-life Democrat, to hold a separate vote on reinstating the Stupak language on abortion insurance, as a whole different bill. Stupak said that this was one possibility -- but he wanted to make sure such a bill would in fact be signed into law.

"Okay, we pass the bill, it has to go to the Senate. This is an enrollment corrections bill. It has to be passed before the president would sign the Senate bill. So there's a long ways to go," said Stupak. "And you know, dealing with the Senate has been unusually difficult these last two years, so I'm not a lot of confident it's gonna go any farther than the House of Representatives."

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Health Care

Catholic Magazine Endorses Health Care Reform: 'No Abortion Funding In The Bill'

Christina Bellantoni | March 18, 2010, 3:28PM

Queen of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Wea, KS.

The National Catholic Reporter today endorsed the Democrats' health care reform legislation, another signal to pro-life Democrats that they are free to back the bill on Sunday. "Congress, and its Catholics, should say yes to health care reform," the magazine editorialized today.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs posted the editorial on his Twitter feed, calling it "another very important health care development." The editors wrote that the debate has gotten "nasty" but insisted that pro-life Democrats have nothing to worry about.

"Bottom line: The current legislation is not 'pro-abortion,' and there is no, repeat no, federal funding of abortion in the bill," National Catholic Reporter wrote. "In any event, what is being debated is not the morality of abortion but the politics of abortion, and there is plenty of room for honest and respectful disagreement among Catholics about politics."

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Health Care

Stupak: Pelosi And Hoyer Haven't Talked To Me (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | March 16, 2010, 11:16AM

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI)

In an interview aired last night on Greta Van Susteren's show on Fox News, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) said that the top Democratic leadership have not approached him about the health care bill.

"Has the Speaker come to you since I last spoke to you last week," said Van Susteren "or even Congressman Steny Hoyer, anyone come to you in the top leadership and talked to you, said down and said, you know, What's your problem?"

Stupak's answer: "No."

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Health Care

Pro-Life Dems Targeted On Health Care

Christina Bellantoni | January 11, 2010, 7:15PM

Former Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO)

As House Democrats return to Washington and prepare to huddle with leadership on health care, an anti-abortion group is going after 13 pro-life Democrats by staging rallies in their district offices and urging them to oppose the final plan.

A House Democratic leadership aide told TPMDC today that abortion provisions are still a big question left unresolved as the House and Senate attempt to reconcile their versions of the health care plan in hopes of getting something to President Obama within the month.

Another leadership aide said the broader questions about how to pay for health care will be the first thing that Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her team will discuss during a caucus meeting tomorrow night. The abortion question will be decided later during the negotiations, the aide said.

But Susan B. Anthony List (SBA) is pressuring Democrats to oppose the final plan, saying the language Sen. Ben Nelson had inserted in the Senate version isn't tough enough.

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Health Care

Abortion Rights Groups Hail Nelson Amendment Vote, See Boost In Fight Against Stupak

Evan McMorris-Santoro | December 9, 2009, 12:05PM

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE)

Abortion rights groups say the rejection of Sen. Ben Nelson's (D-NE) abortion amendment last night makes it easier for them to pressure House Democrats into rejecting a similar amendment included in the House health care reform bill by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI).

"It gives us a huge boost," Laura MacCleery, government relations director for the Center For Reproductive Rights, told TPMDC. "It's a huge step forward -- but we're not out of the woods yet."

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Abortion

Guttmacher: Nelson Abortion Amendment Virtually Identical To Stupak

Brian Beutler | December 7, 2009, 3:02PM

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE)

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) promised that his abortion amendment would be "as identical to Stupak as it can be," and one key women's rights groups says he's made good on his promise.

"As with Stupak-Pitts, this amendment would restrict abortion coverage well beyond the status quo and could have profound implications even for coverage in the private market, paid for with private funds," emails Adam Sonfield, senior public policy associate of the Guttmacher Institute. "It also, like the Stupak-Pitts amendment, takes what had been even-handed language respecting and protecting the conscience of providers on both sides of the abortion divide and turns it into biased language that allows for discrimination against health care providers willing to provide or refer for abortions."

So there you have it. Now the questions is what happens if it fails somehow? Nelson has threatened to join a filibuster of the health care bill if his language isn't adopted. Will he make good on that promise? Or will a new round of negotiations begin. If Nelson defected, it could dramatically impact the course of negotiations over the public option and, indeed, imperil the legislation. We'll be keeping a close eye on this. You can read the language of the Nelson amendment below the fold.

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Abortion

Stabenow Says Nelson Abortion Amendment Unlikely To Pass

Brian Beutler | December 7, 2009, 12:09PM

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)

Pro-choice Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) says she's confident an abortion amendment to the Senate health care bill--written by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and modeled on the restrictive abortion provision in the House legislation--does not have the votes to pass

"I don't believe it's going to pass, whether it's today or tomorrow," Stabenow said at a press event this morning. "I truly believe that the votes are there in order to stop it."

"I believe it goes too far," Stabenow went on. "I believe that we made a commitment entering this debate that this was a debate about expanding coverage--expanding coverage--for women."

Stabenow hasn't seen the actual language. "It's my understanding from talking to Sen. Nelson yesterday that it would parallel the Stupak language," she said. That means it would likely prevent millions of people receiving government assistance to buy health insurance from purchasing policies that pay for abortions. Nelson has said that he'll filibuster the bill if his amendment--or something like it--don't win the day. We'll be looking at this, and all major health care developments, very closely.

Health Care

New NARAL Ad Asks Stupak 'Why' He Injected Abortion In Health Care Debate

Christina Bellantoni | December 3, 2009, 5:35PM

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI)

As Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) is drafting his own anti-abortion amendment to the health care bill, NARAL Pro-Choice America is taking to the airwaves to fight against Rep. Bart Stupak's (D-MI) measure that passed the House last month.

The ad asks why abortion has been injected into the health care debate. NARAL says the ad will run in midsize media markets, including Richmond, Va., Raleigh N.C. and the Portland and Bangor markets in Maine. It also will run in Stupak's Michigan Congressional district.

NARAL president Nancy Keenan, who has been attempting to get the White House to demand abortion be stripped from the health care debate, said the ad aims to "help us enlist even more Americans into our campaign to defeat the Stupak abortion-coverage ban."

Watch the ad after the jump.

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Health Care

Nelson: I'll Filibuster Without Stupak-Like Amendment

Christina Bellantoni | December 3, 2009, 12:05PM

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE)

Brian Beutler reports in from Capitol Hill:

Sen. Ben Nelson told reporters today he will filibuster the health care bill if it doesn't contain an abortion amendment similar to Rep. Bart Stupak's amendment that passed attached to the House health care bill last month.

"I will not vote to take it off the floor," said Nelson (D-NE).

"Now I don't know that it's going to come down to that, because I don't know that Stupak's not going to pass, number one," he said. "Number two I don't know what kind of alternative legislation may be offered as an alternative bill. I don't know what the next steps are, but I've made it clear that whatever is finally considered has to have that language in it."

We'll update as senators react to this latest.

Health Care

Dems Push Back On GOP Claims: Abortions Not Covered

Christina Bellantoni | November 19, 2009, 4:56PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Democrats are jumping all over House Minority Leader John Boehner's claim the Senate health care bill includes an abortion "fee."

The DNC added the remark to its rapid response blast, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office sends word (again) that nothing in the bill mandates abortion coverage.

Reid's office says "no one will be forced to enroll in a plan that covers abortion services," and the bill requires each state's public plan make available at least one plan that won't cover abortion, a guarantee that pro-life customers can buy a policy that does not offer abortion coverage. (That guarantee doesn't currently exist.)

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John Boehner

DNC Responds To Boehner 'Monthly Abortion Premium' Claim, Would Like To Believe He Won't Say It Again...

Eric Kleefeld | November 19, 2009, 4:29PM

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)

The Democratic National Committee released a rapid response to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), who claimed that the Senate Democratic health care bill would result in Americans paying a "monthly abortion premium."

The response cites various media outlets that have fact-checked and/or debunked the claim that the Democratic bill would pay for abortions: "With such clear evidence to the contrary, we'd like to believe that this is the last time we'll hear this scare-tactic from Boehner and the Party of NO... but since all Republicans have to offer are more lies, we're not counting on it."

Abortion

Nebraska Republican: A Vote To Proceed Is A Vote For Abortion

Brian Beutler | November 19, 2009, 2:42PM

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE).

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) better have a chat with his friends on the other side of the aisle.

At a press event this afternoon, Republicans lambasted the Senate health care bill for not adopting the language in the House's Stupak amendment, and reiterated their point that a vote to proceed to debate may as well be a vote for abortion.

"This first vote is the key vote," Nelson's Nebraska colleague, Sen. Mike Johanns, told reporters today.

That statehood camaraderie isn't likely to be lost on Nelson, who will soon have to decide whether to vote to allow the bill to proceed to debate. Nelson has gone to great lengths to distinguish this early procedural votes for more consequential votes down the line. But he says he still hasn't decided what his next move is, and isn't too pleased with the abortion provision in the Senate health care package.

Health Care

GOP Claims Senate Bill Forces Taxpayers To Pay 'Abortion Fee'

Christina Bellantoni | November 19, 2009, 2:39PM

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)

House Minority Leader John Boehner's office has posted a long statement blasting the Senate health care plan, specifically targeting the abortion provisions with an accusation it levies an "abortion premium fee."

As we have been reporting, abortion has been a major negotiating point, though the Senate version of the health care bill seems to be winning approval from pro-choice lawmakers today.

Boehner (R-OH) claims on his blog that "a monthly abortion premium will be charged of all enrollees in the government-run health plan" under Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's plan.

The GOP office says:

"It's right there beginning on line 11, page 122, section 1303, under 'Actuarial Value of Optional Service Coverage.' The premium will be paid into a U.S. Treasury account - and these federal funds will be used to pay for the abortion services. ... The Commissioner must charge at a minimum $1 per enrollee per month.

We've asked senate officials for a response and will update when we hear back.

After the jump, the language from page 122 (and more) of the bill related to abortion. Read the bill in full here.

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Abortion

Senate Abortion Provision Wins Support Of Key Pro-Choice Democrats

Brian Beutler | November 19, 2009, 1:54PM

Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO)

We now have much more clarity on how the abortion provision in the Senate health care bill will work, and it's won the support of both senior administration officials, pro-choice Senators, and the co-chair of the House pro-choice caucus.

"I am pleased that the U.S. Senate has maintained current law when addressing the abortion issue," says Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) in a statement to reporters. "By adopting a common-sense abortion provision, the U.S. Senate ensures that no federal funds will be spent on abortion coverage while not further restricting a woman's right to choose. The health care bill is about providing access to quality health care to over 36 million Americans. I encourage the U.S. Senate to work towards producing a bill that works for everyone."

DeGette included a breakdown of the Senate's abortion provision, which I've included below the fold. One of the key sections reads, "Issuers of health insurance plans that offer coverage for abortion beyond those permitted by the Hyde amendment must segregate from any premium and cost-sharing credits an amount of each enrollee's private premium dollars that is determined by the Secretary to be sufficient to cover the provision of those services."

Which is a fancy way of saying insurers will have to set up an accounting system to keep private money separate from federal money, and only draw upon the private money when paying providers for abortion. Compare that to the Stupak amendment to the House bill, which both requires separation of funds, but also prevents women who receive federal premium assistance from purchasing policies that cover abortion, and it's no wonder Harry Reid's compromise is being met with praise by pro-choice members.

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Health Care

DeParle: Reid's Abortion Provisions Are 'In The Middle,' 'Status Quo'

Christina Bellantoni | November 19, 2009, 1:29PM

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

White House health care "czar" Nancy-Ann DeParle spoke with reporters this afternoon lauding the historic steps Congress has taken toward passing health care and to outline the next steps.

As we just reported, DeParle lauded Sen. Blanche Lincoln, a possible Democratic holdout on the procedural vote.

Reporters also asked about the provisions related to abortion, and both aides dodged the question by saying the issue was working its way through Congress and noting members are talking amongst themselves.

President Obama last week said he doesn't support the Stupak amendment, saying it was a health care, not an abortion bill, and DeParle took that a step further today.

DeParle signaled she prefers the Reid approach, saying the majority leader "carefully" worked on the issue and not mentioning the Stupak amendment.

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Nancy Pelosi

Pelosi Says Stupak 'Goes Beyond Status Quo', 'Optimistic' It Won't Stop Reform

Evan McMorris-Santoro | November 19, 2009, 11:50AM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she's feeling positive that a controversial abortion amendment found in the House-passed health care bill won't derail reform if and when a bill leaves the Senate.

"I'm optimistic we'll find common ground," she told reporters this morning. "This is not a bill about abortion, this is a bill about health care."

The Senate reform package which made its debut last night doesn't contain the Stupak Amendment language found in the House bill. In her first public comments on the controversy the amendment has created among members of her caucus on both sides of the abortion debate, Pelosi said she sides with pro-choice advocates who say the language in Stupak goes too far.

"Stupak goes beyond maintaining the status quo" on abortion funding, Pelosi said.

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Abortion

National Right to Life Committee: Shame On Reid

Brian Beutler | November 19, 2009, 1:09AM

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

The National Right to Life Committee blasts the Senate health care bill for allowing people who receive federal premium assistance to purchase insurance that covers abortion.

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nv.) has rejected the bipartisan Stupak-Pitts Amendment and has substituted completely unacceptable language that would result in coverage of abortion on demand in two big new federal government programs," reads a statement from NRLC director Douglas Johnson. "Reid seeks to cover elective abortions in two big new federal health programs, but tries to conceal that unpopular reality with layers of contrived definitions and hollow bookkeeping requirements."

The key: "the bill creates new tax-supported subsidies to purchase private health plans that will cover abortion on demand."

The Stupak amendment to the House bill would prevent anybody who receives such subsidies from buying insurance that covers abortion, except in rare instances.

You can read the entire statement below the fold.

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Abortion

DeGette: Study Confirms Radical Implications Of Stupak Amendment

Brian Beutler | November 18, 2009, 2:26PM

Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO)

I just spoke with Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, who insisted that the findings of a new George Washington University study confirm many of her suspicions about the Stupak abortion amendment.

"Certainly if it doesn't confirm my suspicions about the intent, it concerns my suspicions about the effect the Stupak amendment would have," DeGette said. "What the findings show are that women who want to purchase policies with their own money--with their own premiums--will not be able to buy insurance policies.... That's frankly the intention of the anti-choice movement now."

DeGette says she's spoken in private to many of the pro-life Democrats who voted for the Stupak amendment, some of whom have acknowledged that they didn't realize what they were voting for.

"I will say that I have spoken privately with several pro-life members about the Stupak amendment, and they acknowledged that the Stupak amendment goes far beyond where they thought it did," she told me.

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Bart Stupak

Study: Stupak Amendment Will Eliminate Abortion Coverage 'Over Time For All Women'

Brian Beutler | November 18, 2009, 10:56AM

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI)

A new study by the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services adds some expert imprimatur to what many progressives have been saying all along: The Stupak amendment to the House health care bill--which will prevent millions of women from buying health insurance policies that cover abortion--is likely to have consequences that reach far beyond its supposedly intended scope.

The report concludes that "the treatment exclusions required under the Stupak/Pitts Amendment will have an industry-wide effect, eliminating coverage of medically indicated abortions over time for all women, not only those whose coverage is derived through a health insurance exchange."

In other words, though the immediate impact of the Stupak amendment will be limited to the millions of women initially insured through a new insurance exchange, over time, as the exchanges grow, the insurance industry will scale down their abortion coverage options until they offer none at all.

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Abortion

DeGette: Stupak Agenda Is Much Wider Restrictions On Abortion

Brian Beutler | November 13, 2009, 5:24PM

Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO)

As co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) is leading the fight in the House to strip the Stupak amendment, which would forbid millions of women from buying comprehensive insurance policies that cover abortion, from the final health care bill. And she takes issue with Stupak's interpretation of the events leading up to the vote that completely changed the stakes of reform debate.

"Basically Congressman Stupak moved the goalposts, and I think it really took [House] Speaker [Nancy Pelosi] and other people by surprise," DeGette told me in an exclusive interview.

She says, after his abortion amendments went down in the House Energy and Commerce Committee (a panel on which she also sits), he demanded he get another crack at it when the Rules Committee set the contours of the floor debate.

"After we defeated him in committee," she said, "he said that he wanted to have an amendment in order on the floor... and that if he didn't have his amendment made in order then he had 40 people to vote against the rule."

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Abortion

CREDO To Send Coat Hangers To Pro-Choice Dems Who Voted For Abortion Restriction Amendment

Brian Beutler | November 13, 2009, 4:36PM

Credo Action Pro-Choice Petition Website

This isn't for the squeamish. It's about as hardball and brutal as it gets.

The liberal group CREDO Action will soon ask over 1,000,000 members to sign a petition condemning the Stupak amendment...and with each signature, CREDO will send a coat hanger to the 20 supposedly pro-choice members of Congress who voted for it.

"We know what happens when women are denied access to reproductive health care including abortion," the petition reads. "And we can't go back to an era of coat hangers and back alley abortions. Reconsider your vote on the Stupak Amendment. Tell House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that the final health care bill that emerges from the conference committee can't turn the clock back on women's rights."

The email hasn't been sent yet, but you can read the language below the fold.

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Abortion

Stupak Sticks To His Guns, Blames Liberals For Abortion Amendment

Brian Beutler | November 13, 2009, 12:42PM

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI)

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) says that House liberals backed themselves into a wall during health care negotiations, and got stuck with a harsher abortion amendment than they would have had if they'd just played nice. And now, he says, there's no going back.

In an interview with The Atlantic, Stupak says "Speaker Pelosi went to present [House liberals] what she agreed to with us, that it would be part of a manager's amendment.... [T]hey're the ones who insisted, 'No, Stupak doesn't get to go in the manager's amendment, we want it on the floor.' They're the ones who insisted on bringing it to a vote. They're the ones who wanted to vote against me, they were the ones who said they would win this vote."

If they hadn't rejected the Speaker on Friday night, to use their words, there would have been a less restrictive amendment that would have been part of the manager's amendment. They rejected that. They could not live with it. Even the less restrictive language. And therefore the Speaker came back and said, 'Bart, I'm sorry, but our deal's off. So I have no choice, because we made an agreement, I'm gonna have to give you an amendment,' and I said, 'Well, with all due respect, Madame Speaker, I'm not gonna send the amendment we agreed to, because if the deal's off, then I don't have to hold to that agreement, Hyde-lite, and I'm putting up the original Hyde language that I offered in committee, that Joe Pitts and I offered.' That's why it's called the Stupak-Pitts amendment.

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Abortion

Who Would Be Most Impacted By The Stupak Amendment?

Brian Beutler | November 12, 2009, 2:47PM

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI)

The Stupak amendment has touched off a furious argument among Democratic politicians and elites--one that could tank the entire health care reform project if it's not resolved by the time legislation comes up for a final vote in the House.

For the most part, the argument has been about justice. The Stupak amendment would forbid anybody who receives new government health insurance subsidies from buying policies that cover abortion. So why should women's health care be treated differently than other kinds of health care? Is it fair to prevent women, forced into the health care market, from buying any insurance policy she wants, even if they have some government assistance?

But somewhat less prominently, these same combatants have been at odds about what the practical effect of the Stupak amendment would actually be. There's substantial lack of clarity on that score--many say it's likely that there will be no abortion coverage in the exchange at all, and others hypothesize that, over time, the norms in the exchange will come to dominate the norms across the insurance market. At this point, that's all theoretical. But there is at least some data on the immediate practical implications of the Stupak amendment: It will, at least, directly and immediately impact a small, but growing number of poor and middle-class women.

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Health Care

GOP Sees 2010 Window, Gloat That Dems Who Opposed Health Care Will Take Dual Heat

Christina Bellantoni | November 11, 2009, 5:38PM

(Top, L-R), Rep. Boucher (D-VA), Rep. Shuler (D-NC), Rep. Ross (D-AR). (Bottom, L-R), Rep. Altmire (D-PA), Rep. Nye (D-VA), Rep. Tanner (D-TN)

Much like Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Sen. Ben Nelson, looks like the 39 Democrats voting against the House health care bill Saturday are getting squeezed from both sides.

We've been writing about all the left-leaning campaigns going after Democrats on health care, and plenty of efforts to hit Republicans as party of "no."

TPMDC has been chatting with Republicans who want to pick off vulnerable House Democrats in 2010 and they (not surprisingly) are pleased as punch by the internal warfare.

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Bart Stupak

Think The Stupak Amendment Is Bad Now? It Could Have Been Worse

Brian Beutler | November 11, 2009, 2:57PM

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI)

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which voted way back in July to advance health care legislation to the House floor. At the time, the legislation stipulated that no federal funds authorized by the bill would be used to pay for abortions, except in cases of incest, risk to the life of the mother, and rape. And at the time, that was good enough.

But even back then, Stupak was trying to strengthen the language in the bill restricting the availability of abortion services under the House health care plan.

A day before the bill passed out of committee, Stupak co-sponsored, and voted for an amendment written by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA)--distinct from the now notorious "Stupak amendment"--that would have limited the government's ability to include abortions in benefits plans to cases of incest, life of the mother, and forcible rape.

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Bart Stupak

Clyburn: Stupak Amendment Won 10 Votes

Brian Beutler | November 11, 2009, 10:15AM

Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-SC)

On Monday, I noted that 40 Democrats had voted for the Stupak amendment--which would prohibit low- and middle-class women from buying health insurance policies that cover abortion--and then voted for final passage of the health care bill. That's a large number, but a key question remained unanswered: How many of those 40 would have voted against the final bill if the Stupak amendment had failed, or not been given a vote?

Well, House Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) has some answers.

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Abortion

Key Dem Senators Say Stupak Abortion Amendment Goes Too Far

Brian Beutler | November 10, 2009, 12:54PM

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Max Baucus (D-MT)

A number of high-profile senators have come forward today to say that a controversial amendment to House health care legislation that would limit a woman's right to purchase insurance that covers abortions goes too far and should not be a part of the Senate.

At a Capitol Hill event this morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid implied that the Stupak amendment exceeds the strictures of the years-old Hyde amendment which prohibits federal funds from financing abortions. "I expect that the bill that will be brought to the floor will ensure..no federal contribution to abortion, and that [the] rights of providers, health care facilities like Catholic hospitals, are protected," Reid said. "The one thing that we're certain to do is to maintain what we have had in the past. I had the good fortune, as did Senator Durbin to serve with Henry Hyde, the Hyde amendment has been a pretty good way to go through this last couple of decades."

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) was more explicit. At a health care event this morning, Cardin said, "The right policy is to avoid coming down on one side or the other on the abortion issue and to handle health care reform as a separate issue."

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Health Care

Pro-Choice Groups Plan Campaign To Get Senate To Reject Abortion Amendment In House Bill

Christina Bellantoni | November 10, 2009, 9:58AM

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI)

The Stupak amendment blocking abortion funding has become the hot button of the left, replacing (for now) the fight over the public option.

As President Obama suggested he doesn't think the measure belongs in the bill, reproductive rights groups are mobilizing to make sure the amendment doesn't make it any farther in the process.

"This is a middle class abortion ban and I don't think women are going to accept it," said Laurie Rubiner, Planned Parenthood Federation of America's vice president of policy.

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Bart Stupak

Controversial Stupak Amendment Sows Anger, Confusion On Capitol Hill

Brian Beutler | November 9, 2009, 6:55PM

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI)

When Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) authored an amendment several months ago to prohibit federal dollars from being used to pay for insurance policies that cover abortion, Democratic leaders and health care principals didn't take his proposal very seriously. As a result it was never subjected to the sort of rigorous analysis that controversial legislation is often treated to. That was a miscalculation. Liberals were forced this weekend to accept the amendment as the price of passing an otherwise progressive health care bill through the House. And now, everyone on both sides of the abortion issue is scrambling to try to figure out what the amendment's language actually means and the practical effect it would have if enacted into law.

As one House Democratic health care aide put it, "there are a ton of unanswered questions."

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Abortion

Nelson: I'll Filibuster A Health Care Bill That Doesn't Include Strict Abortion Restrictions

Brian Beutler | November 9, 2009, 6:32PM

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE)

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) wants Senate health care legislation to contain strict restrictions on abortion funding, much like the House bills now does. And he says he'll filibuster if he doesn't get his way.

"As a pro-life person, I believe that something like the [Rep. Bart] Stupak amendment should be included in the Senate version," Nelson told reporters this evening. "But if it isn't included to that effect, to make it clear that no government money should be used for support, for the subsidies, or direct payments, or even tax credits, should be used to support abortions," he will oppose it.

"If it doesn't make it clear that it does not support abortion, does not pay for abortion, you can be sure I will vote against it."

I asked Nelson if his promise extended to procedural supermajority votes. He had a one word answer: "Yes."

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