Senate Dems Seek Abortion Compromise As Nelson Prepares Health Reform Amendment

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 08 Dec 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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Senate Democratic leaders over the weekend continued efforts to reach an agreement on the issue of abortion coverage in the chamber's health care reform bill, as Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) prepares to release an amendment Monday that mirrors the House bill's (HR 3962) restrictions on abortion coverage under federally subsidized insurance plans, CongressDaily reports. During a Families USA conference call, Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) said Democratic leaders have sought a compromise on abortion coverage that would satisfy antiabortion-rights senators while not being as restrictive as the House language (Edney/Friedman, CongressDaily, 12/4). The House language, known as the Stupak amendment, would prohibit any federally subsidized insurance plans, public or private, from covering abortion services -- even with private dollars (Women's Health Policy Report, 12/4).

On Monday, Nelson is expected to introduce an amendment, co-sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), that mirrors the language of the Stupak amendment. A vote on the amendment could come as early as Tuesday or Wednesday, the Washington Post reports. Antiabortion-rights Democrats have not indicated what they plan to do if the amendment fails, as it is expected to do. Nelson has said he would not vote to advance the Senate bill unless it includes some version of his amendment, but he has also said that he is open to an alternative if it coincides with the underlying objective of his amendment. "I'm not going to start working against the language that I'm going to bring forward," Nelson said, adding, "If it doesn't get passed, there are going to be people talking, but it certainly is not a lock that there's language in the middle ... I'm not going to negotiate against myself at this point" (Murray/Montgomery, Washington Post, 12/7).

Antiabortion-rights groups that support Nelson say they will not accept any compromise that does not include the Stupak language. Richard Doerflinger, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' associate director of the secretariat of pro-life activities, said, "That's not a negotiation we're prepared to have," adding, "I really don't know how you compromise further." Some abortion-rights advocates have also said they are against any further compromise on the Senate language. "As far as I'm concerned, [the Senate] bill is a compromise," Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said, adding, "People are really ready to move on on this issue and not have a protracted debate about legal abortion in this country" (Adamy/Hitt, Wall Street Journal, 12/7).

Democratic leaders have said they do not think Nelson's amendment will have enough votes to pass. However, they are concerned that the overall bill would not pass without Nelson's support, Durbin said. "At the end of the day, we need Sen. Nelson's vote," he said. He continued, "We don't think the Stupak language, if offered at this moment, is likely to pass," but "we're trying to find if there's an alternative provision that's somewhat different from the current bill, that doesn't quite reach the Stupak level that satisfies the needs of Sen. Nelson and our pro-life members" (Wayne, CQ Today, 12/4). Antiabortion-rights Sen. Robert Casey (D-Pa.) has said that he would support Nelson's amendment, although the issue would not be a deal-breaker for his support of the final bill, the Post reports. "We've got to get this done to demonstrate that we can get something this substantial done, even in a difficult economy and in a different political environment," he said (Washington Post, 12/7).

According to CQ Today, the Senate bill is not likely to receive any Republican votes, and Democrats will need the support of all 60 members of their caucus to advance the bill to conference committee (CQ Today, 12/4). Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Olympia Snowe (Maine) have been cited as possible votes for the Democratic bill, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Although Collins has said she is satisfied with the bill's current language on abortion coverage, she and Snowe have both expressed concerns over the bill's public plan option and are involved in discussions with Democratic leadership (Alonso-Zaldivar, AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/4). "There's still a few things we have to work out in the bill but issues are being narrowed as we speak," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said. He added, "We're working toward a consensus -- we're not there -- but we understand how important it is we arrive at consensus, and we're going to do that just as quickly as we can" (Drucker, Roll Call, 12/6).

On Sunday, President Obama met with Senate Democrats, urging them to set aside their differences and "seize their moment in history" by passing health care reform legislation. Obama did not address specific issues like abortion or the public plan option, the New York Times reports. During the closed meeting, Obama emphasized "the importance of health care reform to our economy," but he "did not take any questions and did not get into specifics where there are disputes," Casey said (Pear/Herszenhorn, New York Times, 12/7). According to CQ Today, the meeting lasted 45 minutes, and Obama was accompanied by Vice President Biden, who remained with the Democrats for about 20 minutes after the president left. White House senior adviser David Axelrod, Office of Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, legislative affairs director Phil Schiliro and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also joined in the talks (Hunter/Wayne, CQ Today, 12/7).

MSNBC, NPR Report on Abortion Issues

MSNBC's "Morning Meeting" on Friday included a discussion with MSNBC reporter Ken Strickland, New Republic Senior Editor Jonathan Cohn and Republican strategist K.T. McFarland about the abortion coverage debate in the Senate ("Morning Meeting," MSNBC, 12/4).

On Monday, NPR's "Morning Edition" included a segment on Obama's meeting with Senate Democrats and this week's debate on abortion coverage (Seabrook, "Morning Edition," NPR, 12/7).

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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