By Jodi Kantor The New York Times
MENOMINEE Mich. Representative Bart Stupak a Democrat has embraced the attention - and wrath - his anti-abortion amendment to the House of Representatives helath care reform bill has stirred. With final negotiations on a health care overhaul beginning this week complaints about the evil Stupak amendment" as the congressman dryly called it over dinner here recently are likely to grow even louder.
The amendment prevents women who receive federal insurance subsidies from buying abortion coverage but critics assert it could cause women who buy their own insurance difficulty in obtaining coverage.
Mr. Stupak insists that the final bill include his terms which he says merely reflect current law. If he prevails he will have won an audacious counterintuitive victory forcing a Democratic-controlled Congress to pass a measure that will be hailed as an anti-abortion triumph.
If party members do not accept his terms and many vow they will not Mr. Stupak is prepared to block passage of the health care overhaul.
Representative Bart Stupak often endures things others find unbearable. He crisscrosses a Congressional district so vast that some constituents live eight hours apart and so cold that the beer at his beloved football games sometimes freezes.
Years ago as a state trooper he blew out his knee chasing a suspect and he has since had so many operations that he now returns to work the same day toting crutches and ice.
After his younger son committed suicide in 2000 using the congressmans gun Mr. Stupak soon resumed his predawn commute to Washington and his solid voting record with the National Rifle Association.
Now he is enduring more hatred than perhaps any other member of Congress much of it from fellow Democrats. His name has become a slogan: Stop Stupak!"
Scott Schloegel his chief of staff said wearily I cant tell you how many New Yorkers have called me up and yelled at me about this Stupak guy."
Its not the end of the world if it goes down" Stupak said over dinner. He did not sound downbeat about the prospect of being blamed for blocking the long-sought goal of President Obama and a chain of presidents and legislators before him.
Then you get the message" he continued. Fix the abortion language and bring the bill back."
Mr. Stupak says his stand is a straightforward matter of Roman Catholic faith but it also seems like the result of a long slow burn. As dinner
progressed the congressman described years of feeling ignored slighted or marginalized by his party for his anti-abortion views.
Were members without a party" he said. Democrats are mad at you and Republicans dont trust you."
Mr. Stupak 57 with a shock of thick gray hair and the stare of a law enforcement officer is a Yooper a resident of this states Upper Peninsula snowy and hushed in winter lush and tourist-filled in summer.
His father attended seminary before marrying and later sent his 10 children to Catholic school until tuition money ran out. As a state trooper Mr. Stupak worked the highways but also trailed Ku Klux Klan members and drove home drunken state legislators. He attended law school at night spent a term in the State Legislature and then ran for Congress in 1992.
In the primary he beat a candidate who supported abortion rights. But when he tried to hire Democratic political consultants for the general election they refused with expletives he says to work for a candidate with his views.
Mr. Stupak won anyway and his freshman year in Washington he requested but did not receive a seat on the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee. I had one or two members tell me Id never get on because Im right-to-life" he said.
He cannot run for governor he continued because no one with his stands on guns and abortion can win in Michigan.
When Republicans ruled Washington his fellow Democrats had to listen to anti-abortion views he said. But with Democratic victories abortion rights supporters felt their time had come.
Youre never getting a right-to-life amendment" Mr. Stupak said Representative Louise M. Slaughter Democrat of New York and chairwoman of the Rules Committee told him during health care negotiations. We have pro-choice Democrats in the White House. We have majorities in the House and Senate. Youre done."
In a phone interview Ms. Slaughter said she did not recall the conversation.
But Democratic control of the House carries a paradox: because the party expanded by winning what had been Republican districts it has more members who oppose federal financing for abortions and restrictions on guns. Mr. Stupaks measure on abortion passed the House with the support of 64 Democrats.
Before when we talked about pro-life Democrats youd get a snicker and a laugh" he said. We were just always overlooked. Were not overlooked anymore."
Now the disagreement over abortion financing has become a game of chicken with Mr. Stupak saying he and 10 or 11 others whom he would not name will vote against a final bill that does not meet his standards
and some backers of abortion rights threatening to do the same in what is expected to be a close vote.
Last fall Mr. Stupak told constituents that even if his amendment failed he would still vote yes on the overall health care legislation he merely wanted to vote his conscience first. Now he says that statement applied only to the bills early version.
You fight for a principle youve believed in your whole life then you fold up the tent?" he said.
The National Right to Life Committee and the bishops saw this as a way to vastly increase restrictions on choice" said Representative Diana DeGette Democrat of Colorado who is a chief deputy House whip and co-chairwoman with Ms. Slaughter of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus.
Mr. Stupak was not given very much negotiating room" by those organizations Ms. DeGette said. Now hes gotten himself into a corner where he says its my amendment or its nothing."
(Mr. Stupak says he urged the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to toughen its stance on the legislation; representatives from the conference and the National Right to Life Committee did not return calls.)
For now as he mulls his return to Washington Mr. Stupak is canvassing his district adding to the 180000 miles on his Oldsmobile and grilling in the snow without a jacket at his lakeside log-cabin home for his wife Laurie.
He is trying to pass the health care overhaul he insists not sabotage it and predicts that the legislation will ultimately collapse for reasons apart from abortion. But he will be blamed anyway he is sure.
I get the distinct impression that Im the last guy the president wants to see" he said.
