Abortion deal may be hard to keep in health bill – Yahoo! News

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 2:54 am

WASHINGTON – Twice now, abortion was almost a dealbreaker. Deals are the lifeblood of legislation. Nelson was also pivotal in the abortion compromise. The abortion-rights foe cast the 60th vote Monday to prevent Republicans from burying the bill.
That makes the Senate compromise — which seeks to prohibit the use of tax dollars for abortions — rare, even surprising. It’s also why, as Senate Democrats move to negotiations with the House, other deals in their bill may stick more easily.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., represented abortion rights supporters in the negotiations only to face criticism from women’s rights groups, not just abortion opponents. Hours before the Senate’s abortion compromise came together last Friday, it looked like things would fall apart. Three Democratic officials familiar with the talks detailed how events unfolded. Obama’s health care remake extends coverage to 94 percent of Americans, not including illegal immigrants, and tries to slow increases in medical costs. But in the Senate, Nebraska’s Nelson stood in the way. Among his chief objections was his belief that the Senate’s restrictions on government funding for abortion were too lax.
Among those taking part were Reid, Nelson, Boxer, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina. Nelson and Boxer did not negotiate face-to-face but set up camp in different offices. Schumer, the No. 3 Senate Democrat, shuttled back and forth.
By the middle of the day, Nelson’s home-state concerns had been addressed, and the focus turned to abortion. Senators had previously voted to reject Nelson’s attempt to incorporate the more restrictive House language in the Senate bill.
Two alternatives were under discussion in Reid’s office. Abortion opponents wanted no coverage in health plans receiving federal subsidies under the bill. Mirroring the House, women would have to buy a separate policy for abortion coverage. States would be allowed to decide whether or not abortion could be covered by health plans operating in a new insurance marketplace under the bill. Plans covering abortion would have to collect a separate premium for the procedure, directly paid for by the person buying coverage. Premiums for abortion would be kept in a separate account.
Nelson believed it would solve the problem of segregating taxpayer funds from money for abortions. Nelson meant it was acceptable to abortion opponents if supplemental abortion coverage was stapled to an insurance policy, but not if it was spelled out in the body of the policy itself.
Nelson left Reid’s suite, planning to return at 8:30 p.m. At 9:15, still no Nelson. Reid and Schumer started getting nervous. Finally, at 9:30, Nelson turned up. Reid and Nelson started to say goodnight, and wound up hugging each other. Nelson hugged Schumer next and then left.

Reid put the president on speaker phone so Boxer and Schumer could hear.

After the deal became public Saturday, Nelson was slammed by former allies opposed to abortion.

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