As expected, amendments from Senator Orren Hatch to further restrict abortion were defeated Wednesday.
Most interesting to me is the rise of a new argument: the Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus noted that the status quo is to ban federal funding for abortion — but that the ban has to be renewed each year. The Hatch amendment would have made the ban permanent and therefore, argued Baucus, did not reflect the status quo.
(Both sides have been arguing that they are merely trying to cofidy the status quo rather than move the ball in the direction of their side).
UDPATE: Cathy Grossman at USA Today probes the implications of the committee’s decision to fund abstinence-only education programs.