Abortion coverage under national health-care reform survived a challenge in a key Senate committee Tuesday, but opponents vowed further efforts to strip it from the eventual benefits package.
The action by Sen. Edward Kennedy's Labor Committee was the second time this year a congressional panel upheld abortion as a covered medical service.
The committee, the first to take up a version of President Clinton's plan, rejected two abortion amendments:
-- It voted 11-6 against excluding abortions from the benefits package except in cases involving rape, incest or the health of the woman.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said the bill would expand abortion services by making health plans cover them.
But Democrats said the amendment would force the poor to go outside the new system for abortions, a blow to guaranteeing everyone comprehensive care.
"We cannot allow that issue to overwhelm and submerge . . . health-care reform," said Sen. Harris Wofford, D-Pa.
-- It voted 10-7 against an amendment that would have given state abortion restrictions precedence over federal reforms. Wofford sided with Republicans backing it.
Abortion opponents complained that existing state laws, such as those providing for parental notification, could be superseded.
But Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said the amendment could let states "prohibit abortion, despite the fact that we could have abortion services in the federal package."
Abortion foes were not discouraged.
"This thing's going to sink the health-care bill," said Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind.
