There is a very good reason why we needed the House to produce the strongest bill possible. A Medicare PO. No further compromises. Many thought the great battle would be over the public option in the Senate. It now appears it will be the abortion funding issue.
Rep DeGette, Deputy Whip of the House and Chair of the Pro Choice Caucus tonight tells the WaPo she has growing numbers of members ready to say NO to the final bill if the Stupak provision remains. DeGette she has already 40- enough to nix the final bill if needed. Anti Choice groups hail the Stupak win- the greatest blow to choice seen in a generation in America. Women who currently can receive abortion services via their private insurance plans will find, if Stupak passes, their ability to choose gone.
All plans would be forbidden to cover abortions deemed "elective." As PP head Richards says this is a de facto ban on a woman’s right to choose. Rep DeGette will be the leader of pro choice forces on the Hill to get Stupak stripped from the conf bill.
Oh and to those who thought at least our ever so wondrous Senate wouldn’t have in its bill the Stupak amendment you are wrong. Sens. Casey and Nelson vow to put Stupak in the Sen version. Reid is still drafting his bill. My fear is he will work this in to avoid a floor fight.
Nelson promises to not only attack choice, but go after the anti trust provisions in the House bill. He is telling Reid he won’t vote for the bill pretty much, but anti trust in the Sen bill would lead to a NO vote. Reid is indicating according to NYT that he will drop this provision to suite Nelson. If he is so willing to drop a key part of the bill like that want to bet Reid will adopt Stupak!
We have a huge fight ahead of us. What started as a battle to cover all Americans is becoming one to ensure women have the right to choose- the right over their bodies.
Let’s support Rep De Gette in her fight leading the 190 member Pro Choice Caucus in killing this outlandish de facto ban on abortion in America. Call the Hill and tell her your thanks and support. She will need it!
WaPo:
...The House passed its version of health-care legislation Saturday night by a vote of 220 to 215 after the approval of an amendment that would sharply restrict the availability of coverage for abortions, which many insurance plans now offer. The amendment goes beyond long-standing prohibitions against public funding for abortions, limiting abortion coverage even for women paying for it without government subsidies.....
Although House liberals voted for the bill with the amendment to keep the process moving forward, Rep. Diana DeGette (Colo.) said she has collected more than 40 signatures from House Democrats vowing to oppose any final bill that includes the amendment -- enough to block passage.
"There's going to be a firestorm here," DeGette said. "Women are going to realize that a Democratic-controlled House has passed legislation that would prohibit women paying for abortions with their own funds. . . . We're not going to let this into law."
After a compromise foundered, the amendment by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) emerged as the leading alternative,.... Under that language, abortion coverage would be unavailable not only to working-class women buying coverage with government subsidies, but probably also to women buying coverage on the new marketplace without federal assistance. The amendment suggests that women could buy separate "riders" covering abortions, but abortion-rights supporters say it is offensive to require a separate purchase for coverage of a medical procedure that for most women is unexpected.
But Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL-Pro Choice America, said that although the vote was "extremely disappointing and outrageous," the "fight isn't over." DeGette said she remains hopeful that the amendment will be dropped as more Democrats who voted for it -- and their constituents -- realize it goes beyond the status quo of limiting federal funding for abortions. Some of those House Democrats are not against abortion rights, just against federal funding, and she surmised that they may have misunderstood the amendment.
She said her House allies have requested a meeting with Obama, saying they "need him to back us up" after lying low on the issue.
"This would be the greatest restriction on a woman's right to get an abortion with her own money in our lifetime," she said. "The stakes could not be higher."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Ny Times- Nelson and Casey ready to put Stupak in Sen Bill. Catholic bishops have spoken to Obama and are pressing through churches to get final passage of this amendment- a de facto abortion ban.
...Beginning in late July, the bishops began issuing a series of increasingly stern letters to lawmakers making clear that they saw the abortion-financing issue as pre-eminent, a deal-breaker.
At the funeral of Senator Edward M. Kennedy in August, Cardinal Seán O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, stole a private moment with Mr. Obama to deliver the same warning: The bishops very much wanted to support his health care overhaul but not if it provided for abortions. The president "listened intently," the cardinal reported on his blog.
Bishops implored their priests and parishioners to call lawmakers. Conservative Democrats negotiating over the issue with party leaders often expressed their desire to meet the bishops’ criteria, according to many people involved in the talks. On Oct. 8 three members of the bishops conference wrote on its behalf to lawmakers, "If the final legislation does not meet our principles, we will have no choice but to oppose the bill."
On Sunday, some abortion rights advocates lashed out at the bishops. "It was an unconscionable power play," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, accusing the bishops of "interceding to put their own ideology in the national health care plan."
Now some Senate Democrats, including Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Ben Nelson of Nebraska, are pushing to incorporate the same restrictions in their own bill. Senior Senate Democratic aides said the outcome was too close to call.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
It gets even worse in the Senate. Expect abortion rights to be a target. Now Sen Nelson is pushing Reid to drop anti trust provision and Reid may do it.
NELSON ON ANTITRUST Senate Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, has voiced a number of concerns. He does not particularly like the idea of a public option. And as a former insurance company executive and state insurance commissioner, he opposes a provision that would end health insurers’ decades-old exemption from federal antitrust laws.
Mr. Reid strongly supports the provision, but has said he will set it aside to win Mr. Nelson’s support. (The antitrust provision is included in the House bill.)
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.c...