Stupak Says White House Wants Him Quiet on Abortion

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) told CNS News Tuesday that he will not compromise his principles on abortion funding for the sake of passing health care reform, and that the White House and House Democratic leaders have pressured him to remain quiet on the issue until it can be settled internally.

"We're getting a lot of pressure not to say anything, to try to compromise this principle or belief," Stupak said. ". . . That's just not us. We're not going to do that. Members who voted for the Stupak language in the House – especially the Democrats, 64 Democrats that voted for it – feel very strongly about it. It's been part of who we are, part of our makeup. It's the principal belief that we have. We are not just going to abandon it in the name of health care."

The pro-life Democrat led an effort this fall to amend the House health care reform bill to include language tightly restricting federal funds for abortion. He said the recent Senate compromise effort by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) is unacceptable, and told CNS that at least 10 House Democrats are committed not to vote for the bill if his abortion funding language is weakened.

"I don't need anyone to sell me the language," he said. "I can read it. I've seen it. I've worked with it. I know what it says. I don't need to have a conference with the White House. I have the legislation in front of me here."

Stupak's criticism of the Obama administration foreshadows potentially brutal conference committee wrangling between the House and Senate, when differences between their two reform bills have to be negotiated. Democrats in both chambers are already identifying pieces of their own legislation without which they say they won't vote for the final bill. With a three-vote margin of error in the House, and no votes to spare in the Senate, compromise for Democrats on any issue could scuttle the overall reform effort.

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