Agreement with anti-abortion lawmakers appears to give Democrats the votes needed to pass the Senate bill
- Rep. Stupak (D-Mich), who led a group of anti-abortion lawmakers in opposing the bill, announced his deal with the White House for his group to vote for healthcare reform.
- The agreement Stupak made with the President was announced at a press conference, during which Stupak stated that the agreement “protects the sanctity of life and insures that no public funding for abortion will appear in the healthcare reform legislation.”
- The President will sign into a law an executive order after the Senate bill passes to reinforce that there will be no public funding for elective abortions. The anti-abortion lawmakers were satisfied with additional components of this agreement that include a pregnancy assistance fund for indigent mothers.
As of this writing, all news reports continue to indicate that voting on the Senate bill will begin around 8 p.m. tonight with a possibility that it will not be finalized until after midnight.