"Last I heard, we had separation of church and state in this country," she said. "I've got to say that I think that the Catholic bishops and all of the other groups should have input."
The Hill initially misquoted Rep. DeGette as saying that such groups should not have input, a comment which many pro-life leaders criticized before it was corrected.
However, Rep. DeGette in her 2008 pro-embryonic stem cell research book “Sex, Science and Stem Cells” dismissed “the many tentacles of the Catholic Church, trying to influence a dialogue that's already difficult to begin with.”
The House health care bill must be reconciled with any bill produced by the Senate. Presently, the Senate legislation does not contain a Stupak Amendment.
On Monday Kristen Day of Democrats for Life of America (DFLA) told CNA that pro-life Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska has already said he does not want any funding of abortion. Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, Jr. of Pennsylvania has also taken that position.
There are conflicting reports about whether these pro-life Democrats would support Stupak Amendment restrictions in the Senate bill. CNN has reported that Sen. Nelson would be satisfied with the less restrictive provisions of the Senate Finance Committee’s health care bill.
Sen. Casey also issued a statement which some reports construed as a retreat from the Stupak Amendment. However, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette politics blog “Early Returns” on Monday published a statement from Casey spokesman Larry Smar which read:
“The suggestion that Senator Casey thinks that there is no room for a Senate amendment like the Stupak Amendment that passed the House is incorrect and does not reflect his position or the statement I issued that explained his support for health care reform and his support for measures to keep the bill neutral on abortion.”
The spokesman added that Sen. Casey had voted for an amendment “very similar” to the Stupak Amendment.
“His position has not changed since that vote."