Abortion Activists Mobilize Against Stupak-Pitts

Abortion rights activists are organizing a massive grassroots effort and targeting lawmakers to ensure the hated Stupak-Pitts Amendment never reaches the president’s desk. The coalition of groups is first meeting with senators and organizing a phone drive and petition to keep the House language out of the Senate's bill. Failing that, they are preparing a roadblock in the House to stymie the entire bill.

“We will oppose any health care bill that includes anything like Stupak/Pitts,” the president of the National Organization for Women tells Politico. The coalition also includes Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and some 80 other groups. The situation is dicey. Should the amendment pass muster in the Senate—where Majority Leader Harry Reid is ambivalent about abortion rights and up for reelection—it will almost certainly be in the conference bill. Still, 41 House Dems have pledged to vote against a bill containing the language. (More abortion rights stories.)