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<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><A
href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20091111/pl_politico/29412">http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20091111/pl_politico/29412</A></FONT></DIV>
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<H1>Abortion activists call for backup</H1>
<DIV class=byline><CITE class=vcard>Jonathan Allen <SPAN class="fn org">Jonathan
Allen</SPAN> </CITE><ABBR class=timedate
title=2009-11-11T12:54:00-0800>Wed Nov 11, 3:54 pm ET</ABBR>
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<P>Abortion-rights advocates are calling in the cavalry to help fight off an
anti-abortion provision <A
href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/politico/pl_politico/storytext/29412/34052037/SIG=11mbu2o55;_ylt=AvGzjp6C6IyYnV7qTthsCOjCw5R4;_ylu=X3oDMTFodXMzZmpwBHBvcwM0BHNlYwN5bl9zdG9yeV9wcmludF9jb250ZW50BHNsawNob3VzZWRlbW9jcmE-/*http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29385.html"><SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_0><FONT color=#4485be>House
Democratic</FONT></SPAN></A> leaders swallowed in order to win passage of their
<SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_1>health care reform bill</SPAN>. </P>
<P>Laurie Rubiner, vice president of policy for the <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1258044021_2>Planned Parenthood Federation</SPAN>, said the tight
restriction on public funding for abortions “has completely galvanized the <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_3>reproductive health community</SPAN> and the
women’s community.” </P>
<P>On Tuesday, <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_4>Planned
Parenthood</SPAN> summoned 80 progressive groups to plot strategy for keeping
the <A
href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/politico/pl_politico/storytext/29412/34052037/SIG=11m60h0nn;_ylt=Apt7Y.iKC8mawHg399HFNmLCw5R4;_ylu=X3oDMTFoZHVwMnRqBHBvcwM1BHNlYwN5bl9zdG9yeV9wcmludF9jb250ZW50BHNsawNhbnRpLWFib3J0aW8-/*http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29393.html"><SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_5><FONT color=#4485be>anti-abortion
amendment</FONT></SPAN></A> — named for sponsors <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1258044021_6>Bart Stupak</SPAN> (D-Mich.) and <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1258044021_7>Joseph Pitts</SPAN> (R-Pa.) — out of a final <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_8>health care bill</SPAN>. </P>
<P>If that doesn’t work, Plan B is to rely on progressives in the House to vote
against a bill containing the language. Forty-one House Democrats threatened to
do just that in a letter to <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_9>Speaker
Nancy Pelosi</SPAN> (D-Calif.), according to a report by Washington Post blogger
Greg Sargent. </P>
<P>“They passed <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_10>health care
reform</SPAN> for half the nation and partial health care reform for the rest of
us,” said Terry O’Neill, president of the <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1258044021_11>National Organization for Women</SPAN>. “We will oppose any
health care bill that includes anything like Stupak/Pitts.” </P>
<P>But the first battlefield is in the Senate, where Majority Leader <A
href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/politico/pl_politico/storytext/29412/34052037/SIG=12cljds21;_ylt=Aj8MZK9xzU6rEeNj_o5PobvCw5R4;_ylu=X3oDMTFlN2hzazhoBHBvcwM2BHNlYwN5bl9zdG9yeV9wcmludF9jb250ZW50BHNsawNoYXJyeXJlaWQ-/*http://www.politico.com/livepulse/1109/Reid_Debate_to_begin_next_week.html"><SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_12><FONT color=#4485be>Harry
Reid</FONT></SPAN></A> (D-Nev.) has yet to unveil his chamber’s version of the
health care bill. It’s still not entirely clear whether Reid, who has a mixed
record on abortion and a tough reelection bid next year, will include the
Stupak/Pitts provision or if abortion foes will have to try to amend it in.
Either way, there is likely to be a vote on the issue on the Senate floor,
forcing socially <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_13>conservative
Democrats</SPAN> to pick sides. </P>
<P>They are already starting to get pressure from a coalition of abortion-rights
advocates and their allies in the <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1258044021_14>progressive movement</SPAN>. </P>
<P>The Planned Parenthood meeting included representatives of influential <A
href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/politico/pl_politico/storytext/29412/34052037/SIG=11mb7fuvc;_ylt=AgtxnFrLV7DcAwuOkMbAU2jCw5R4;_ylu=X3oDMTFoMzhubjkzBHBvcwM3BHNlYwN5bl9zdG9yeV9wcmludF9jb250ZW50BHNsawNsaWJlcmFsb3JnYW4-/*http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29356.html"><SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_15><FONT color=#4485be>liberal
organizations</FONT></SPAN></A> like the <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1258044021_16>Service Employees International Union</SPAN>, <A
href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/politico/pl_politico/storytext/29412/34052037/SIG=10jp1la59;_ylt=AnsHQtdtjfgmW.Vo1uC2GdzCw5R4;_ylu=X3oDMTFlaW4xbG5lBHBvcwM4BHNlYwN5bl9zdG9yeV9wcmludF9jb250ZW50BHNsawNtb3Zlb25vcmc-/*http://MoveOn.org"><SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_17><FONT
color=#4485be>MoveOn.org</FONT></SPAN></A>, the <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1258044021_18>American Civil Liberties Union</SPAN>, the <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_19>Human Rights Campaign</SPAN> and the Center
for <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_20>American Progress</SPAN>,
according to a list provided to POLITICO. </P>
<P><SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_21>NARAL Pro-Choice America</SPAN>
plans to “patch through” calls from activists in 17 states to their senators’
offices next week to lobby against the Stupak/Pitts anti-abortion amendment in
the Senate version of a health care overhaul. The group’s online petition to
Reid collected 30,000 signatures in less than 24 hours, and an e-mail campaign
from the group’s grass roots to lawmakers is due to start soon, according to an
official. </P>
<P>NOW chapter leaders are making appointments with individual senators. In the
meantime, 53 activists showed up to picket Senate offices in the <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_22>Dirksen Building</SPAN> earlier this week,
according to NOW President Terry O’Neill.</P>
<P>With so much on the line, the abortion-rights activists recognize that they
have to mobilize quickly and forcefully to counteract Pelosi’s decision to give
the anti-abortion lawmakers what they wanted in exchange for their accession to
passing the bill. </P>
<P>Although abortion rights groups worked hard to give Democrats the majorities
in the House and the Senate — not to mention the <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1258044021_23>White House</SPAN> itself — they’re reluctant to call <A
href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/politico/pl_politico/storytext/29412/34052037/SIG=11mmccbhu;_ylt=AtxX5QmMD.li.KLgSya_4hTCw5R4;_ylu=X3oDMTFobHVxcGw0BHBvcwM5BHNlYwN5bl9zdG9yeV9wcmludF9jb250ZW50BHNsawNwZWxvc2k4MjE3c2Q-/*http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29305.html"><SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_24><FONT color=#4485be>Pelosi’s decision a
betrayal</FONT></SPAN></A>.</P>
<P>“That’s water under the bridge,” said <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1258044021_25>Nancy Keenan</SPAN>, head of NARAL Pro-Choice America. </P>
<P>Now, they’re focused on ensuring that the <A
href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/politico/pl_politico/storytext/29412/34052037/SIG=11mlodbdg;_ylt=AqNPDVbTL6Oc_FPMchs6pyDCw5R4;_ylu=X3oDMTFpZjVmbnA5BHBvcwMxMARzZWMDeW5fc3RvcnlfcHJpbnRfY29udGVudARzbGsDc2VuYXRlZG9lc244/*http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29351.html"><SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_26><FONT color=#4485be>Senate doesn’t adopt
the same language</FONT></SPAN></A>, which would make it very difficult to keep
the provision out of a House-Senate conference agreement because Senate rules
strongly favor retaining language adopted by both chambers. </P>
<P>The amendment would prohibit federal funds from being used for the purchase
of plans that cover abortion in a <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_27>new
health care exchange</SPAN>. <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_28>Abortion
rights activists</SPAN> say that it is more restrictive than the existing Hyde
amendment, which prohibits direct federal funding of abortions, and that it
would strip away rights women currently have. Abortion critics counter that
leaving out the amendment would force taxpayers to subsidize abortion. </P>
<P>They say that under Stupak/Pitts, insurers would be free to offer separate
plans: One for individuals who get subsidies that does not cover abortion
services and one for those who do not receive federal help that does cover
abortion. </P>
<P>“The amendment explicitly allows a given insurance company to sell policies
that cover abortion, and also to participate in the exchange and sell policies
that do not cover elective abortion to federally subsidized customers,” Douglas
Johnson of the <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_29>National Right to Life
Committee</SPAN> wrote to <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1258044021_30>POLITICO</SPAN> in an e-mail. </P>
<P>But abortion rights groups say the ban would inevitably stop women who buy
insurance through the exchange without the help of federal subsidies from
accessing plans that cover abortion because it would prohibit plans that cover
abortion from pooling individuals who get federal subsidies with those who do
not.
<P>Kim Gandy, a <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_31>Harvard University
Institute</SPAN> of Politics fellow who is the immediate past president of NOW,
said she thinks her side will prevail.
<P>“My sense is [Pelosi] made the only decision she could,” Gandy said. “It’s
not a sacrifice yet, and I don’t think it will be.”
<P>Still, the abortion-rights groups have a fight on their hands, and <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_32>Democratic leaders</SPAN> — faced with
enough threatened defections to kill the bill in the House if they choose either
side — have many <A
href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/politico/pl_politico/storytext/29412/34052037/SIG=11md5o1s8;_ylt=AtilWbBfCcoq0Ln96t7o3gHCw5R4;_ylu=X3oDMTFpMW1xdW5uBHBvcwMxMQRzZWMDeW5fc3RvcnlfcHJpbnRfY29udGVudARzbGsDc3RyYXRlZ2ljZGVj/*http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29281.html"><SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_33><FONT color=#4485be>strategic decisions
left ahead</FONT></SPAN></A> on the abortion issue if they hope to enact a <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_34>health care reform bill</SPAN> in this
Congress.
<P>Senators, including Reid, are in for an earful.
<P>“It was a wake-up call across the country,” Keenan said.
<P>Leaders of abortion-rights groups met with high-ranking <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_35>White House</SPAN> officials to discuss the
<SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_36>health care bill</SPAN> on Wednesday.
<P>“As part of our ongoing outreach surrounding <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1258044021_37>health insurance reform</SPAN>, staff met with today with
representatives of the women’s rights community,” <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1258044021_38>White House spokesman</SPAN> Reid Cherlin said. “Staff will
also be meeting in coming days with leaders from communities of faith and other
groups involved in the effort.”
<P>ABC’s Jake Tapper, who first reported on their meeting with <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258044021_39>chief of staff Rahm Emanuel</SPAN> and
other senior advisers to the president, wrote that the abortion-rights advocates
had a “frank exchange” with administration officials, according to a source who
participated.
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