Reid Schedules Vote To Move Reform Bill to Floor as Abortion Debate Continues

November 20, 2009 — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is working to secure the support of 60 senators ahead of a vote on Saturday evening on whether to advance the chamber's version of health care reform legislation to the Senate floor, the Washington Post reports. According to the Post, Reid has been courting the votes of Democratic Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.), Blanche Lincoln (Ark.) and Ben Nelson (Neb.), as they "remain the biggest question marks." Nelson, who opposes abortion rights, has said he is not satisfied with Reid's language on abortion and would like to see stronger restrictions on coverage of the procedure (Montgomery/Murray, Washington Post, 11/20).

Although Reid's bill contains several abortion-related restrictions, it does not go as far as the House version in restricting coverage, CQ Today reports. The Senate bill would allow people who receive federal subsidies to select a plan that covers abortion, but it requires insurers to use money contributed by consumers, not federal subsidies, to cover the cost of abortion care. The bill also would require that the insurance exchanges offer at least one plan that covers abortion and one that does not.

Abortion-rights opponents are urging the Senate to adopt language similar to an amendment by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) in the House bill (HR 3962) that would prohibit the public option from covering abortion care and bar women who receive federal subsidies from purchasing plans that include abortion coverage.

Focus Shifts to Nelson

In a floor address on Thursday, Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) began a campaign to convince Senate Democrats who oppose abortion rights -- including Nelson, his home-state colleague -- to vote against the motion to open debate on Reid's bill. Johanns called the motion-to-proceed vote "our last chance to protect life in this debate" (Wayne, CQ Today, 11/19). According to Democratic and Republican aides, Johanns speech marks "an unusual intrastate disagreement" with Nelson, CongressDaily reports (Friedman, CongressDaily, 11/20).

Nelson said he disagrees with Johanns' perception of the vote, saying, "It's not the key vote. If cloture is obtained, then you have the opportunity to amend or improve the legislation" (CQ Today, 11/19). Nelson "hinted" that he will vote to bring the bill to the floor, according to Roll Call. He said that although he would prefer stronger language on the abortion-coverage restrictions, "that's one of the things that could be amended" if the bill reaches the Senate floor (Dennis, Roll Call, 11/19).

Advocates' Views Mixed on Senate Bill

Abortion-rights supporters have said they are pleased that Reid's bill does not include the language found in the Stupak amendment. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif) said Reid's bill "maintains the decades-long compromise of no federal funds for abortion, while allowing a woman to use her own private funds for her reproductive health care" (Pear, New York Times, 11/20). White House Office of Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle said Reid's abortion restrictions were "carefully worked through by the leader, who cares a lot about making sure this maintains the status quo on abortion policy." She added that President Obama has said he wants health care reform legislation to remain neutral on the issue of abortion and that Reid's bill achieves that goal (Alonso-Zaldivar, AP/Yahoo! News, 11/20).

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) indicated that House abortion language would not survive when the chambers' bills are combined. "We all have agreed -- on all sides of this issue -- that we would maintain the status quo, that we would have no federal funding for abortion, and that we would pass health care reform," Pelosi said. She added, "We're going to pass a bill. For those who want to use any excuse not to pass a bill, well, that's another story. This is not a bill about abortion. This is a bill about health care."

Several abortion-rights groups have said they will support the Senate bill, although "they are not rushing to embrace it," the New York Times reports. Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center, said that as long as further restrictions on abortion coverage are not added, her group would support the bill in order to see health reform legislation passed. However, the bill "is not the pro-choice position," she said. In a statement, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America said the Senate bill "respects" current restrictions on the issue, "while allowing women with private health insurance the choice of plan, coverage and providers." NARAL Pro-Choice America has not taken a position on the Senate bill but said it was "encouraged" that it does not include the "extreme new anti-choice restrictions" of the House bill. The group added that "the legislation includes a compromise that continues existing laws that unfairly single out abortion care" (Seelye, New York Times, 11/20).

Mikulski To Introduce Mammogram Amendment

In related news, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) on Thursday said she will introduce an amendment to the Senate bill that would guarantee women universal access to mammograms beginning at age 40, the Baltimore Sun reports. Mikulski's amendment is in response to new U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendations stating that most women do not need mammograms until age 50 and only every two years after that. The recommendation "attacks the whole concept of preventive services for women," Mikulski said in a statement, adding, "They say we don't need mammograms until we are 50. I believe that where data is conflicting, it is better to be safe than sorry" (Cohn, Baltimore Sun, 11/20).

Stupak Amendment Would Be 'Major Step Backward,' Capps Writes in Opinion Piece

In a Politico opinion piece, Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) writes that the Stupak amendment "goes well beyond the status quo" and "would result in a major step backward for women's access to abortion, a legal medical procedure." The "goal is to pass meaningful health care reform legislation," and "[w]e must not allow abortion opponents to use our health care reform process to drastically restrict a woman's access to a legal medical procedure," which is "exactly what the [amendment] does," she says (Capps, Politico, 11/20).

NPR, Newsweek Examine Efforts To Block Stupak Language in Senate

NPR's "Morning Edition" on Friday examined efforts by Senate Democrats to block language similar to the Stupak amendment from being added in the chamber's version of health reform legislation (Seabrook, "Morning Edition," NPR, 11/20).

Meanwhile, Newsweek reports that although abortion-rights supporters' efforts to block the Stupak amendment in the House failed, the lack of such language in the Senate's bill "indicates that their predictions that they would be more effective in the Senate are being vindicated" (Beyerstein, Newsweek, 11/19).