WORLD Washington Bureau reporter Edward Lee Pitts has been closely following healthcare reform this week on Capitol Hill. He reports:

Healthcare reform advocates took two major steps forward this week, but conservatives fear those steps could represent two giant leaps backward for those with pro-life, limited government, and anti-tax interests.

Concerning the inclusion of abortion funding in healthcare legislation, Lee writes:

. . . the biggest burden the House bill places on the nation may be its treatment of abortion.

“Language in the bill still does not do enough to prevent federal funding from going to abortion services,” worries Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich.

Stupak and as many as 40 other House Democrats fear that the creation of new federal insurance subsidies for low-income earners would go toward purchasing healthcare plans that include abortion coverage.

Current law prohibits federal funding for abortion through Medicaid, the federal employee health plan, and military plans. But the new health bill creates new federal funding avenues that are not covered under current law—and theses new streams have the potential to reach a greater number of Americans than the already restricted plans.

To stop this, Stupak is pushing for an amendment that adds the abortion prohibition to the new federal subsidies. He says that pro-life Democrats combined with Republicans could derail the House bill. Stupak is continuing to negotiate, but Pelosi may try to get the House bill through under a procedure that does not allow amendments.

“Anyone voting to forbid amendments to this bill is in effect voting to set up a federal government program that will directly fund abortion on demand,” warns Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee. “Prominent Democrats who have claimed that the federal government could pay for abortion with ‘private’ funds have been engaged in a big snow job.”

The fight over the pro-life amendment could come as early as next week.

Read Lee’s report in its entirety here.