Stupak: Abortion Restrictions Must Be Tightened

Representative Bart Stupak, Democrat of Michigan and a leader among House Democrats who oppose abortion rights, said on Thursday that President Obama needs to be “more flexible” on tightening abortion restrictions in the big health care legislation.

In a television interview, Mr. Stupak said that many House Democrats do not support the Senate version of the health care legislation that they would probably need to adopt before  approving changes through a budget reconciliation measure.

“In the present form, the Senate health care bill is going nowhere in the House of Representatives,” Mr. Stupak said. “Not only do the members of the House of Representatives do not agree with the Senate bill — the process by which the Senate bill was passed, the special deals, there is no member that wants to vote for that.”

And he warned that House leaders had not yet explained the process by which House Democrats could approve both the Senate bill and a package of changes to it.

Mr. Stupak, however, defended the use of budget reconciliation as a parliamentary maneuver to circumvent a Republican filibuster in the Senate, noting that it would allow the legislation to be adopted by a simple majority vote.

“No one has yet outlined the process to us, how it would be done. I have been around here long enough, I have seen reconciliation — we did S-Chip, the children’s health initiative program, through reconciliation,” he said. “And that was sort of a new program that had not been part of the reconciliation package before. So there’s ways to do it, if you want to do it.”

Mr. Stupak said he would continue to fight for tighter abortion restrictions in the health insurance legislation.

“My intent is not to hold up this legislation,” he said. “My intent is to keep current law. Eight different pieces of legislation currently say no public funding for abortion. That’s all we’re saying. No public funding for abortion. Let’s move health care. I want to see health care pass and whatever vehicle we need to do it, let’s get it done. But there’s a principle and a belief that the American people agree with which says no public funding for abortion, and that’s a principle and a belief I’ll continue to fight for.”

He continued, “The president has already said that the so-called sweetheart deals for the senators to get them to vote for the legislation is out of it. Obviously there’s flexibility with the president. In my eyes he has to be a little more flexible, especially on this issue of no public funding for abortion.”

Mr. Stupak has warned that he and several other Democrats who supported the House health care bill in November could turn against it without tighter abortion restrictions. It is unclear that Democrats could pass a bill without those votes.

And in the interview on Thursday, Mr. Stupak said he wanted to see a finalized bill before making up his mind.

“I want to see the whole bill,” he said. “Most of us, we are not voting for health care because the president wants us to, because it’s good for the Democratic Party or anything like that. We’ll vote for quality legislation, and the Senate bill is not quality legislation in my humble estimation. The president has made some changes. Let’s see the bill in writing, and let’s move forward on this process, but the underlying principle for many of us is no public funding for abortion.”