The WSWS

analyzes the House's passage of health reform, and mentions the inclusion of what amounts to the Hyde Amendment to the legislation which bars federal funds being used for abortions.

The anti-abortion amendment was advanced by Rep. Bart Stupak, Democrat of Michigan, and a fervent abortion opponent. It mandates that “No funds authorized or appropriated by this Act … may be used to pay for any abortion or to cover any part of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion” except in cases where the woman faces death unless an abortion is performed, or in cases where the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest.

The amendment bars payment for abortions for woman who select the public option or who receive a government subsidy to purchase private insurance on the exchange. It would also ban abortions for coverage obtained with assistance from a state’s matching Medicaid funds. To the extent that private employers begin to dump workers into the public option, if it is ultimately established, the Stupak amendment would have the long-term effect of drastically reducing access to abortion for lower-income working-class women.

The Hyde Amendment has been legal for over thirty years. The Stupak provision is basically the same thing. The USSC upheld the Hyde Amendment in 1980. Congress isn't about to overturn this longstanding law.

Of course the whole health care legislation is going to be moot, for it won't pass the Senate.