Stupak Wins in Abortion Funding Fight Versus Pelosi

Madame Speaker must really be bleeding votes if it had to come to this for her; as she's now allowing the U.P.'s Bart Stupak amendment to strip the House Health Care Bill of any federal funding of abortion.

(You know, that thing both President Obama and Congressman Steve Kagen kept lying to anyone dumb enough to believe them weren't in the bill.)

House Democratic leaders will allow an up-or-down vote on an amendment blocking any money in its healthcare overhaul from funding abortions, risking the votes of members who support abortion rights.

Anti-abortion Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) had told a bleary-eyed Rules committee panel that a deal struck earlier in the day to move forward on the issue was off.

“There was some compromise language from different proposals that we thought would be satisfactory, our understanding was that we had an agreement. Two hours later it was not an agreement,” Stupak said as the clock neared 1 a.m. Saturday.

Stupak, flanked by a bipartisan coterie of abortion opponents, argued for consideration of their amendment that explicitiy prohibits federal funding of abortions under the Democrats' healthcare bill before the Speaker's select committee.

Stupak has said he had at least 40 House Democrats -- just enough to derail passage -- over the abortion funding provisions in the bill.  If she's lost on this fight, then the rumors of Pelosi losing more votes than she's gaining are true.