("=US House Votes To Curtail Funding For Abortion In Health Bill," at 10:21 p.m. EST, misstated the vote count in the second paragraph. The correct version follows:)

By Patrick Yoest Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Abortion opponents scored a major legislative victory Saturday, winning passage of an amendment to House health-care legislation that would strictly curtail insurance coverage for abortions in an "exchange" created by the bill.

The amendment, offered by Rep. Bart Stupak (D., Mich.) was approved by a 240-194 vote with one member voting "present." It would essentially disallow people receiving "affordability" tax credits from the bill from enrolling in private insurance plans if the plans offer abortion coverage.

House Democratic leaders faced the difficult choice of allowing a vote on the amendment--which most House Democrats opposed--or losing support for the bill from pro-life Democrats. They chose to hold a vote on the amendment, since the pro-life Democrats were needed to secure enough votes to pass the overall bill.

Stupak said that his amendment would only apply restrictions already in place in other federal programs, such as Medicaid, to a federal health insurance "exchange" created by the bill.

"I'm not writing a new abortion policy," Stupak said. "Health insurance companies can still offer policies in exchange to cover abortions. They just can't sell the policies to individuals receiving affordability credits."

Stupak argued that the bill "in no way prohibits any individual from purchasing a supplemental abortion coverage." But Diana DeGette (D., Colo.) countered that few women would choose to purchase supplemental coverage only for abortion services.

"Like it or not, this is a legal medical procedure, and we should respect those that need to make this very personal decision," DeGette said.

Under the amendment, a public health insurance plan created by the bill also couldn't offer abortion coverage. Insurance companies could still offer plans with abortion coverage in an exchange created by the bill, but couldn't provide insurance to people receiving federal subsidies.

Prochoice Democrats, who worked vigorously to gather enough votes to scuttle the amendment, complained that it would shut off access to abortions for poor women. Additionally, they expressed concern that few if any insurers would offer plans covering abortion because, without policyholders receiving the federal subsidies, the plans would have too small of a risk pool.

"We think that insurance companies will not offer, even to those who will pay their own money completely, a plan that will offer abortion services even when medically necessary," said House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D., Calif.).

-By Patrick Yoest, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-3554; patrick.yoest@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-07-09 2244ET