Handling of Abortion During Floor Health Reform Debate Undecided, House Leadership Says

October 26, 2009 — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Friday dismissed questions about abortion coverage in the House health reform bill (HR 3200), saying House leaders have not yet decided how to "procedurally" handle floor debate on the bill, CongressDaily reports. Pelosi's statement comes as the debate continues between House members who want stronger restrictions on abortion coverage and those who have tried to make the bill "abortion neutral" by maintaining existing restrictions. A Democratic aide who worked on the House Energy and Commerce Committee's abortion-coverage negotiations said, "Most people would have preferred not to have to talk about abortion at all in health reform."

Nonetheless, antiabortion-rights House Democrats are pushing the conversation, despite the inclusion of a compromise amendment specifying that no federal funds can be used to pay for abortion coverage and that abortion care must be financed with private premiums, CongressDaily reports (Hunt, CongressDaily, 10/26). On Friday, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who is leading antiabortion-coverage efforts in the House, said about 40 House Democrats are prepared to block the bill from reaching the floor unless he is allowed to introduce a stand-alone amendment further restricting abortion coverage, The Hill's "Blog Briefing Room" reports.

Stupak said House Rules Committee Chair Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) has told him there is "no way" she would allow a vote on his amendment (Fabian, "Blog Briefing Room," The Hill, 10/24). The House Energy and Commerce Committee defeated the amendment during markup (CongressDaily, 10/26). Stupak said that he thinks the 40 Democrats and the House Republicans can successfully block the measure, adding that the "magic number" is 218 votes. According to the "Blog Briefing Room," Stupak would need at least 41 Democrats to vote alongside the 177 House Republicans to block the measure ("Blog Briefing Room," The Hill, 10/24).

According to a Democratic leadership aide, there is "an impressive effort to find a compromise. I don't know if we are ever going to be where Stupak is, but we'll be in a place that will satisfy a majority of those folks that he considers with him right now." In its current form, the bill's language is derived from the amendment offered by Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) during consideration of the legislation in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Capps said her amendment is "walking a fairly fine but a well-defined line on stated policies that are in effect now that have been the result of compromises and consensus." She added, "The consequence of the amendment is that nobody's really happy. That's the sign of success in a way" (Congress Daily, 10/26).

NPR's Rovner Discusses Abortion Coverage on "Weekend Edition"

NPR's "Weekend Edition" on Saturday included a discussion with NPR health policy correspondent Julie Rovner about the debate over abortion coverage in health care reform. Rovner said the abortion issue is "bigger than it is in many other bills because this time they're playing for keeps." She noted that most abortion-related policies are temporary and placed in annual spending bills that are renewed each year, "so it can be changed every time the president or the Congress changes positions on abortion." However, the health reform bill "will become permanent law" if it is passed, "[s]o both sides [of] the abortion debate know there is a lot at stake here."

While both sides of the debate have claimed they want to maintain the status quo on abortion coverage in federal policy, "how well they are doing that depends on who you talk to," Rovner said. Antiabortion-rights supporters argue that the Capps amendment "is too permissive" and "would still allow too much federal funding of abortion," she said. "On the other side, ... abortion-rights backers say if the bill is compromised any further, it could mean that women who currently have abortion coverage in their private plans could lose it." The segment included clips from Stupak and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) to illustrate the impasses. Schakowsky said, "Comprehensive health care does include reproductive health care, prenatal and maternity care, screening for breast, cervical and other cancers or [sexually transmitted infections], abortion, contraceptive services. That these are all basic health care for women that we have a right to by virtue of our reproductive organs and our right to control our own bodies" (Simon, "Weekend Edition," NPR, 10/24).

Rep. Kennedy Criticizes Catholic Church on Health Reform, Abortion Coverage

In related news, Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin of the Providence Diocese and Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) last week "exchanged nasty comments" over the church's position on abortion coverage in the health reform debate, the Boston Globe reports. Kennedy -- a Roman Catholic who is a staunch supporter of health reform -- said in a Catholic News Service article published Thursday that he "can't understand ... how the Catholic Church could be against the biggest social justice issue of our time" because of abortion issues. The church has said it supports universal health care but wants language explicitly prohibiting the use of federal funding for abortion coverage, the Globe reports.

In the CNS article, Kennedy is quoted as saying, "if the church is pro-life, then they ought to be for health care reform, because it's going to provide health care that [is] going to keep people alive." He added that the abortion issue "is an absolute red herring, and I don't think that it does anything but to fan the flames of dissent and discord, and I don't think it's productive at all" (Valencia, Boston Globe, 10/24).

According to the Boston Herald, Tobin responded on Friday, saying Kennedy continues to be a "disappointment" to Catholics and is "ignorant of the facts," adding that U.S. bishops are "in favor of comprehensive health care reform and have been for many years" (Dwinell, Boston Herald, 10/24).