White House Still Negotiating With Abortion Foes For Health Care Votes

The White House is continuing to negotiate with Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) on an executive order to specify that no federal funding will be used for abortion services created or covered by the pending health care reform bill, Stupak said Sunday morning.

Without language addressing the question of abortion funding in the bill, Stupak said that he and a coalition of pro-life Democrats will vote against the measure when it comes to a vote Sunday afternoon. Although some anti-abortion Democrats have agreed to vote for the House bill, the congressman still has between six and eight votes in his block, a number that appeared large enough to bring down the entire $940 billion measure."We've been talking past each other for months, but we're getting close," Stupak said in the Capitol.

As recently as Saturday afternoon, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been in negotiations with Stupak to allow him to introduce an amendment to the health care package with specific restrictions on abortion funding in the bill. But Pelosi came out of meetings late in the day to say that no amendments would be offered on any subject. "The bill is the bill," she said.

Stupak said that no final agreement has been reached with the White House, but that he wants an executive order to declare that the Hyde amendment, which specifically states that no federal funding may be used for abortion services, would apply to any new agency, health center, insurance coverage, or health care services created by the pending legislation.

House Democrats have scheduled a 12:30 meeting of their caucus in advance of the 1:00 House debate on the bill, and Stupak said he hopes to be able to share the language of a possible executive order with his fellow Democrats at the time.