According to a CNN poll, 61 percent of Americans are opposed to government funding of abortion. What's more, 51 percent said they believed payment for abortions should come directly from the women seeking them.
The results highlight the battle that has been raging, first in the U.S. House and now in the Senate, over inclusion of abortion funding in health-care reform.
Pro-life members in the House were able to get an amendment passed banning federal funding of abortions. Word on Capitol Hill on Monday was that the amendment and the House version of health care were dead.
Now it's the Senate's turn. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has announced he will introduce an amendment with similar pro-life language, but said he was not having much success finding Democrats who would support it.
"It will be much more difficult in the Senate," he told Politics Daily. "There are so few (Democrats) you can really turn to."
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said Democrat leadership isn't listening to the American people.
"They keep trying to pass this health care with the anti-life provision in it," he said. "But the American people, God bless them, continue to stand up, exercise their First Amendment rights and say, 'You know, we have had it with this unbelievable intrusion of the federal government in our lives.' That's encouraging to me."
Republicans are unified in their opposition to government funding of abortions, and even some Democrats are considering standing for life.
"Some of these guys are starting to figure it out," Jordan said, "that life is precious and should be protected."
Still, Democrat leadership continues to push policy that is contrary to many Americans' beliefs. Barry Aarons, senior research fellow for the Institute for Policy Innovation, said it's not hard to understand why.
"It tells me that they believe in the power of the personality of the president," he said, "and they believe in the majorities they have in the House and Senate, that they can do anything they want to do."
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Ask the Senate to oppose any bill or procedure that does not include Stupak's pro-life language.
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