Washington Wire
December 2, 2009
Janet Adamy

Hundreds of abortion rights supporters gathered on Capitol Hill Wednesday, vowing to keep the Senate health bill from having the same restrictions on abortion coverage as the House-passed version.

A sea of pink shirts and signs filled the auditorium of the Dirksen Senate office building as the Senate continued with its third day of debate on the sweeping health bill.

Some Senate Democrats said they won’t let the bill contain the amendment that Sen. Ben Nelson (D., Neb.) plans to introduce to prevent women who enroll in the public plan or get a government tax credit to buy insurance from having abortion services as part of the coverage. It mirrors the amendment that Rep. Bart Stupak (D., Mich.) won in the House bill.

“It is the biggest rollback to a women’s right to choose in three decades,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.). The real goal of the amendment, she said, “is in essence to chip away, chip away and tear away Roe v. Wade.”

House Democrats said that although they voted for the health bill despite the Stupak amendment, they won’t do it again if the bill comes to a final vote after being melded with the Senate’s version.

Abortion rights Democrats face a formidable opponent: the Catholic Church. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which effectively won the tight House restrictions, says it will oppose the Senate bill if it doesn’t contain the same restrictions as the House did. Nelson says the same thing — a problem for Democrats who probably will need every Democrat’s vote to pass the bill.