Washington — President Obama plans to sign an executive order Wednesday reaffirming long-standing restrictions on federal funding of the procedure, but won’t hold an event like the signing ceremony a day earlier.
The order is part of an 11th hour agreement with Democratic abortion opponents in the House that brought them over to Obama’s side and pushed the health insurance overhaul over the top.
Obama has invited members of the Democrats’ anti-abortion bloc, including its leader, Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan, to the private afternoon signing at the White House.
Stupak is under fire for accepting the order as his price for supporting the health care overhaul. He released a statement Tuesday defending the order, placing it on a list of other significant orders that included Abraham Lincoln’s freeing of the slaves and Harry Truman’s 1948 order desegregating the U.S. armed forces.
Full story: Obama to sign promised executive order on abortion – Fox News