By Nancy Frazier O'Brien,Catholic News Service

The House of Representatives passed historic health reform legislation late March 21 but rejected a last-ditch effort to send a package of legislative fixes back to committee in order to insert language on abortion supported by the U.S. bishops. The votes were 219-212 in favor of the Senate-passed health reform bill. The vote on the reconciliation package, which concluded shortly before midnight, was 220-211.

The House votes came only after Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., obtained a promise from the White House that President Barack Obama would sign an executive order stipulating that the Hyde amendment would apply to the health reform legislation. The White House has not indicated when Obama will sign the health reform bill or issue the executive order. Unconfirmed news reports said Obama would sign the bill March 23.

Rep. Joseph R. Pitts, R-Pa., said the House language was needed in the Senate measure despite the promised executive order because "an executive order does not trump a statute."

"The courts will look to the legislative statute to interpret the law," he said.

In a March 21 memo to congressional staffers, Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, said that "the statutory mandate construed by the courts would override any executive order or regulation."

"This is the unanimous view of our legal advisers and of the experts we have consulted on abortion jurisprudence," he said. "Only a change in the law enacted by Congress, not an executive order, can begin to address this very serious problem in the legislation."

The text of the draft executive order released by the White House said its goal was to "establish an adequate enforcement mechanism to ensure that federal funds are not used for abortion services (except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered), consistent with a long-standing federal statutory restriction that is commonly known as the Hyde amendment."

"The purpose of this executive order is to establish a comprehensive, governmentwide set of policies and procedures to achieve this goal and to make certain that all relevant actors -- federal officials, state officials (including insurance regulators) and health care providers -- are aware of their responsibilities, new and old."

The U.S. bishops in their March 20 letter not only called for changes on abortion language but also urged changes that would allow new immigrants to get Medicaid and illegal immigrants to buy health insurance with their own money.

"After a year of divisive political combat, members of the House are told that they can advance health care reform only by adopting the Senate legislation as is, including these fundamental flaws," the letter said. "The House leadership is ignoring the pleas of pro-life members for essential changes in the legislation. Apparently they will not even try to address the serious problems on abortion funding, conscience protection and fair treatment of immigrants."

This is an abridged story. The original can be found here.

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