WASHINGTON – With prolife House Democrats attempting to fix portions of the Senate health care bill that allow taxpayer funding of abortion as a separate measure, U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said today that they should remember that neither the Democratic Leadership in the Senate nor the White House has given any assurances that it would secure the necessary 60 votes to pass the Senate. Hatch issued the following statement: “Prolife Democrats in the House, who supported the Stupak amendment, are coming under intense pressure to vote for the Senate health care bill and are desperately trying to find a way to change those provisions that allow taxpayer funding of abortion. I wish it were that easy. But to my friends in the House, who are looking to pass a fix separately, I have a regrettable piece of news: I tried to include a strict prohibition of federal dollars for elective abortion in the bill in December, but my amendment lost by a vote of 54 to 45. Absent an ironclad guarantee from Senate Democratic Leadership and the White House, which I’ve not seen, the only way to ensure there is no taxpayer funding of abortion is to vote no on the Senate bill. I don’t know many Senate Democrats who’d go along with this.”