News

By Kathleen Gilbert

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 29, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A video released by the Heritage Foundation blog appears to show Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak, whose efforts against the health care bill's abortion expansion had emerged as the pro-life community's primary strategy in the House, admitting that he would ultimately vote for the health bill even with government-funded abortion if it otherwise met his standards.

“If everything I want [is] in the final bill, I like everything in the bill except you have public funding for abortion, and we had a chance to run our amendment and we lost. OK, I voted my conscience, stayed true to my principles, stayed true to the beliefs of this district, could I vote for healthcare? Yes I still could,” Stupak is shown telling a town hall meeting in Cheboyan, Michigan in a video released today.

Rep. Stupak was not immediately available for comment on the video.

Stupak had told LifeSiteNews.com in a telephone interview Monday that he was “fairly confident” that his plan to strike down the bill in a procedural vote (should House Speaker Pelosi not allow a floor vote on a pro-life amendment) would work.  In light of the new video, however, it is not certain whether Stupak would consider ultimately voting in favor of the bill should this tactic fail.

A pro-life source on Capitol Hill has called Stupak's statements in the video a “game-changer” and a “disaster.”