Hatch says his abortion amendment may fail

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Tuesday that it will be tough to pass an amendment he is pushing to the Democratic health care reform bill to ban taxpayer funding of abortions.

Meanwhile, Democrats accused him of distorting facts as he seeks support for the amendment.

Hatch told the national Fox News channel, "It's going to be very difficult for us to get the 60 votes that would be necessary to pass the amendment. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try, and it doesn't mean there aren't Democrats who might open their minds and say, 'Yes, why should the taxpayers have to pay for abortion?' "

Hatch and Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., plan to introduce an amendment similar to one that passed in the House to make clear that taxpayer funds cannot be used for abortions. The senators likely will need a three-fifths majority, or 60 votes, to cut off a possible filibuster against the amendment. Hatch questions whether he has enough votes for that yet.

"In the Senate, the Democrats are basically following the line of pro-abortion people. That is, they don't want anything to interfere with the rights of abortion. This won't interfere with it. It just says that taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for it," Hatch said.

Nelson's support is seen as key, and he has said he might filibuster the entire bill if the Senate does not add the amendment on abortion funding. That could prevent Democrats, who have exactly 60 votes, from cutting off a GOP filibuster of the bill without Nelson's support.

Some other comments that Hatch made to Fox News had the Democratic National Committee crying foul on Tuesday.

Hatch said that if the current bill passes, its language could force doctors to perform abortions even if they object to them on religious or moral grounds.

"It could be used against Catholic hospitals and other religious hospitals, other groups that do not believe in abortion, and may cause actions of discrimination to be filed against them," he said.

"Why should they be forced to participate in the act of abortion?" Hatch asked.

The Democratic National Committee quickly issued a news release in response, saying Hatch is "flat wrong on provider protections."

It said that Page 123 of the Senate bill says, "No individual health care provider or health care facility may be discriminated against because of a willingness or an unwillingness, if doing so is contrary to the religious or moral beliefs of the provider or facility, to provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions."

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