Following the maneuvering now in the Senate over the health care bill, Bill Clinton’s apparently meeting with Dem senators today and there’s noises being made that some conservative Dems won’t support the bill unless it bans federal money going for abortions - and liberal Dems saying they might not support the bill if it does.

I have no problem with prohibiting federal funding of abortions if it gets the bill passed. Public funding of abortion is mostly banned now. No one’s talking about outlawing abortion - though those on the left believe that to prohbit public funding for it essentially restricts access to it; that’s true. But on something as comprehensive and important as this bill, I don’t see where what basically constitutes a continuation of existing policy should scuttle it.

The trick now is to square the circle legislatively. Reid has to get something acceptable to both sides - it’ll be a tough trick. But not impossible by any means.