Pelosi Yields to Anti-Choice Dems & will Allow Anti-Abortion Amendment [View All]

[debbierlus]

Where's the Kucinich amendment?

Fuck Pelosi. And, FUCK the dems for this wetdream corporate health care bill. No public option (and don't anyone dare try to tell me that their pathetic 2% 'p.o.' that will likely be administred by private insurance companies & cost more then regular private insurance is a po). Subsidies for the private insurance companies that wrecked the system to continue and expand their power, big pharm allowed to treat the prescription drug market as a mafia scam and now this....I am outraged. FURIOUS.

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-na-health-house7-2009nov07,0,5267162.story

Reporting from Washington - With a historic floor vote looming on their healthcare bill, House Democratic leaders secured an 11th-hour compromise late Friday night to settle a long-simmering debate over how to restrict federal funding for abortion.

The deal appeared to clear the way for a vote on the sweeping healthcare legislation this evening.

And senior Democrats maintained that they would have the 218 votes needed for passage when the House votes.

"You don't go to the floor unless you're there -- and we're there," said Rep. John B. Larson of Connecticut, the No. 4 Democrat in the House.

President Obama, who has made healthcare legislation the centerpiece of his domestic agenda, planned to go to the Capitol this morning to rally House Democrats.

The abortion compromise will allow socially conservative Democrats to offer a strong antiabortion amendment today when the bill comes to the floor. The amendment, which is expected to pass with the support of Republicans, would prohibit the new government insurance plan -- or so-called "public option" -- from covering elective abortions.

The amendment would extend a similar prohibition on private insurers that offer plans in new government-regulated insurance exchanges that are the foundation of the Democratic plan to expand coverage.

The Democratic healthcare bill envisions that millions of people who do not get coverage through work would shop for insurance in these new exchanges.

Under the compromise, federal funds would still be allowed to cover abortions in cases of rape or incest and in cases in which a woman's life is in danger.

Lawmakers who support abortion rights have bitterly opposed this proposal, and emerged visibly disappointed Friday night from a marathon meeting in the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco).

They have been pushing an alternative that would have allowed commercial insurers to offer coverage of elective abortions.

Under their proposal, many insurance companies will probably offer plans to millions of low- and middle-income women who will get federal subsidies to help them buy coverage.

If they cover elective abortions, these insurers would have to maintain separate accounts for these women, so that only private money is used to pay for abortion services.

The new government insurance plan would have to make similar arrangements.

But this arrangement never satisfied conservative Democrats, who threatened to derail the healthcare legislation unless their demands were met for stricter prohibitions on the use of federal funding for abortions.

And in the end, Pelosi had to convince the liberal wing of her party to hold their noses and back a bill that would restrict access to abortions more than many wanted.

With 258 seats -- counting newly elected New York Rep. Bill Owens, who was sworn in Friday -- Democrats can afford to lose 40 members and still pass the bill.

But as Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and other senior Democrats met into the night with undecided members, their safety margin appeared to be narrowing. A succession of Democrats went public with their plans to oppose the bill, including first-term Reps. John Adler of New Jersey, Suzanne Kosmas of Florida, Walt Minnick of Idaho and Frank Kratovil Jr. of Maryland.

Many other centrist Democrats said they still hadn't made up their minds Friday, including Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.). "I've been really trying to get to yes," he said.

No Republicans are expected to vote for the more than $1-trillion measure, which would expand health coverage to 96% of Americans over the next decade