This afternoon House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected a proposal by Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak to hold a separate vote on strict language stipulating that no federal money in the House health-care bill will go toward funding abortion coverage. But it wasn’t just Stupak who got rejected. Pelosi said there will be no extra votes on anything.
“Not on abortion, not on public option, not on single payer, not on anything,” Pelosi said. She later added, “The bill is the bill.”
Still, this doesn’t mean that anti-abortion Democrats are a lost cause. The latest plan is for President Obama to issue an executive order once the bill passes that assures no federal money will got to abortion services. The hope is that anti-abortion Democrats will vote for the bill, knowing that the executive order will address their concerns. At least one wavering Dem seems open to the idea.
Pelosi rejects Stupak abortion solution [WP]
Still, this doesn’t mean that anti-abortion Democrats are a lost cause. The latest plan is for President Obama to issue an executive order once the bill passes that assures no federal money will got to abortion services. The hope is that anti-abortion Democrats will vote for the bill, knowing that the executive order will address their concerns. At least one wavering Dem seems open to the idea.
