Senate Leaders Prepare For Antiabortion Amendments As Health Reform Floor Debate Begins

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As the Senate begins floor debate this week on its health care reform bill, both parties are expected to introduce dozens of amendments, including some related to abortion coverage, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Senate debate is expected to last at least several weeks, though Democrats have said they would like to have a final bill by Christmas. Democrats have not been able to solidify the 60 votes needed to conclude debate. It is unclear how many amendments will be voted on before Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) attempts to invoke cloture, and any amendments that are introduced will likely require 60 votes to pass. While opponents can threaten to filibuster any amendment that does not have enough support to pass, "even unsuccessful amendments can send a message," the Journal reports. For example, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is expected to introduce an amendment to include abortion coverage restrictions similar to those the House bill (HR 3962) (Bendavid, Wall Street Journal, 11/29).

The House language bans any insurance plan -- public or private -- that receives federal subsidies from covering abortion services (Women's Health Policy Report, 11/25). The Senate bill introduced Nov. 19 would permit insurers to cover abortion services, but they would have to segregate federal subsidies from consumers' contributions and use only the private funds to pay for abortion coverage (Kirkpatrick, New York Times, 11/27).

The issue of abortion coverage has been in the spotlight since the House narrowly passed its language on Nov. 7. Several senators have threatened to vote against a final bill that includes the House restrictions, though they say they will accept the language in the current Senate bill, the AP/Yahoo! News reports (Alonso-Zaldivar, AP/Yahoo! News, 11/29).

Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), "the country's most prominent pro-life Democrat," is the only senator "actively working for a compromise that might defuse the issue," making him a "special target of attacks," the New York Times reports. Casey, a Roman Catholic, said that the Senate's segregated-accounts system does not go far enough to ensure that taxpayer money is not used to fund abortion and that the language "will require more work as the bill is debated on the Senate floor."

However, Casey has not said that he would vote against the bill as it is currently written. According to Senate Democratic aides, Casey and members of his staff are working behind the scenes with party leaders to craft a provision that could be more acceptable to abortion-rights opponents. Casey said that he has been working since the summer to modify the legislation but has had little success thus far. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) has said he would not support the Senate bill without the inclusion of stricter abortion language, though Nelson's spokesperson indicated that the senator has other issues with the bill unrelated to abortion (New York Times, 11/27).

The House language was added during floor consideration after attempts to reach a compromise on the issue prior to floor debate failed. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) decision to allow the floor vote, despite her own objections to the language, has angered many advocates on the left who have typically supported her, including abortion-rights groups that were anxious to keep the House restrictions out of the final bill, CQ Politics reports.

Jon O'Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, said it is up to Democratic leadership "to put this right" and block the House language from being added to the final Senate bill or any bill that comes out of conference committee. Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said Pelosi's decision has opened up "a whole new game because pro-choice Americans are paying attention to what the anti-choice forces are trying to do." Northup's group has begun airing television and online advertisements against the House language, CQ Politics reports.

However, Pelosi's options for changing the language on abortion coverage are "limited" because of the "fine mathematical line" on the number of votes in Congress for health reform legislation, CQ Politics reports. House Democratic leaders can only afford to lose 41 of their 258 caucus votes and still pass a bill that comes out of conference committee, according to CQ Politics. Forty abortion-rights supporters in the House have said they would vote against any final bill that includes the current House restrictions (Epstein, CQ Politics, 11/26).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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