The Senate voted 54 to 45 this afternoon to table Sen. Ben Nelson’s (D-NE) abortion amendment, effectively killing the measure.
The amendment would have prevented a public option from providing abortion coverage. It also would have prevented private plans from offering abortion coverage to women using government assistance to purchase a plan.
Nelson’s amendment was extremely similar to Rep. Bart Stupak’s (D-MI) measure in the House bill. Stupak’s amendment passed.
Nelson has threatened to filibuster the health care reform bill if strong anti-abortion language, like Stupak’s, isn’t included. If he does, Democrats will need both Sens. Joe Lieberman and Olympia Snowe to break a filibuster. Neither Snowe nor Lieberman want a public option, and both are iffy on some of the compromises being floated in meetings this week.
