The Senate on Tuesday rejected an effort to tighten restrictions against using federal funds for abortion under Democrats' landmark healthcare legislation, handing a victory to abortion-rights advocates but setting up a potential conflict with the House.
The Senate voted 54-45 to kill an amendment offered by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) to make sure the bill does not undermine the long-standing ban on federal abortion funding.
But critics defeated the measure, saying it would go too far and curb access to abortion coverage even if women buy insurance with their own money.
That vote put the Senate at odds with the House, which has passed a bill that includes the stricter abortion language backed by a large faction anti-abortion Democrats who otherwise were prepared to defeat the healthcare legislation.
The vote came after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), a lifelong abortion foe, sided with his party's abortion-rights majority in opposition. He gave an impassioned closing speech urging senators to not let the hot-button social issue derail a major expansion of healthcare access that he believed was true to his "pro-life" record on abortion.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
