(Creative Commons photo by Matthew Bradley via Flickr)

(Creative Commons photo by Matthew Bradley via Flickr)

As Congress debates health care reform proposals promised by President Obama during last year’s campaign, U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, a Democrat from Menominee, is bucking his party’s majority opinion and demanding that any legislation involving federal funding for health care explicitly exempt funding abortion services.

Stupak, co-chairman of the House Pro-Life Caucus, was one of 19 House Democrats who sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last month saying: “As the debate on health care reform continues and legislation is produced, it is imperative that the issue of abortion not be overlooked. Plans to mandate coverage for abortions, either directly or indirectly is unacceptable.”

The letter made explicit that those who signed it would not support the bill unless it contained an explicit ban on abortion funding, saying that the signers “cannot support any health care reform proposal unless it explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan.”

Last week, however, talk of compromise was in the air. The Wall Street Journal reported that Stupak was in negotiations with U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, that’s working on the health care reform bill, for a compromise on the issue that would avoid further amendments on the matter.

There was, however, little detail on the nature of the compromise. The Journal reported only that Stupak “indicated that the compromise language would affect the treatment of state abortion laws under the bill.” What that means is anyone’s guess. But so far, no compromise has been announced by Stupak nor Waxman.

On another abortion-related issue, Stupak disappointed his fellow anti-abortion legislators when he did not vote for an amendment that would have banned all funding for Planned Parenthood under the health care reform bill. “I was disappointed that Congressman (Bart) Stupak did not vote for my amendment denying federal funding to Planned Parenthood,” U.S. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Indiana) told our sister site, the Iowa Independent, before speaking to a rally in Iowa. “I was disappointed because I think he is to be a sincere pro-life man. I believe the time has come to deny all federal funding to Planned Parenthood of America. I was disappointed that we were not able to enlist enough support from our Democrat colleagues to accomplish that.” The amendment was voted down 247-183.

Stupak has also said that he wants a conscience clause in the legislation allowing doctors and nurses to opt out of having to perform abortions. When asked during a reporters’ conference call last week if the inclusion of a conscious clause in the bill was a “make or break” issue for him in terms of supporting the bill, Stupak said:

It’s not make or break. I think if we at least have amendments on right to life issues and I get the chance to express my views on it and that of my district, that would be sufficient. You never know, put the amendment on the floor, it might pass or it might lose, but I think these are such difficult issues that members on both sides of the issue should at least have a right to express their view.

During the conference call, the congressman did say that he does not currently support the bill, saying, “Right now I’m not supportive of H.R. 3200. I expect our markup, where you offer amendments, changes to the health care bill, to go for another three or four days and we’ll see what happens.”

Despite the declaration in the letter to Pelosi that any bill that includes funding for abortion was “unacceptable” and that he cannot support a bill that includes funding for abortion, Stupak said during the conference that he would not vote based on that one issue, pledging instead to “look at the totality of the package.”

The Iowa Independent’s Lynda Waddington contributed to this report from Mount Vernon, Iowa.