WASHINGTON — Health care reform's fragile chances took a turn for the worse Monday as pro-abortion-rights lawmakers led by Rep. Diana DeGette vowed to kill the bill if an anti-abortion amendment isn't stripped from the final version.
The drama played out for most of the day on cable television as pro- abortion-rights Democrats who were outmaneuvered over the weekend suddenly went on the offensive.
DeGette, D-Colo., vowed to send a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week with at least 40 signatures of lawmakers promising to vote against the bill — enough to kill the bill once it emerges from conference — if the language restricting federally subsidized insurance policies from covering abortion remained intact.
But anti-abortion Democrats showed Saturday that they can muster at least the same number of votes, as 64 Democrats, including Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, voted in favor of the amendment. And reformers now face the prospect that one of the most emotional policy issues of the last quarter-century could kill the biggest domestic initiative of Barack Obama's presidency.
SOURCE: Denver Post
