I have been saying for months - sooner or later - Democrats would be faced with a situation where they would have to make a major concession in order to keep the health bill on track, and that is what happened with abortion.

This compromise involved what is basically an effort to ban any money involved in a new government health care system from paying for abortion services.

Earlier this month, Speaker Nancy Pelosi frustrated liberals in her party by backtracking a bit on the public health insurance option, when it became clear the plan wouldn't draw enough votes to pass.

By late last week, Pelosi and her lieutenants had realized a group of anti-abortion Democrats could scuttle the entire health bill over the abortion issue.

So on Friday night, she dropped a bomb on pro-choice Democrats, by deciding to allow a vote on an amendment from Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), which would make sure any federal dollars from this health bill weren't used to pay for abortions.

It also would codify the Hyde Amendment, which prohibited federal dollars going to abortions except in the case of rape, incest or if the life of the mother was at risk. That has been renewed on a yearly basis by Congress for over thirty years.

The thought of doing that was absolutely unacceptable to a number of liberal Democratic women, who argued that the bill already banned money from going to pay for abortions.

But pro-life lawmakers argued for months that the language in the bill was filled with loopholes, and that it used accounting gimmicks to make sure that federal money wasn't going to abortion services.

So the Speaker gave the high sign for a vote on the issue as an amendment to the health bill.

Friday night, the chair of the powerful House Rules Committee, Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), walked out of her own committee when discussions began on the Stupak Amendment, because she was so incensed by Pelosi's move.

By Saturday morning, nerves were still raw, even though it became more and more clear by the minute, that if Democrats wanted to get this health overhaul bill approved, they would have to add the Stupak language.

"If it's not in the bill, I will vote no," said Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN) to a group of reporters just before the health debate started on the House floor. (Hill voted yes.)

It was a line repeated by a number of Democrats over the next ten hours.

"A majority of people do not want their taxpayer dollars spent on abortion or abortion coverage," said Stupak.

But some in the GOP were having second thoughts, because adding the Stupak language was actually making it easier for Democrats to gain a major victory on health care.

On Saturday morning, some Republicans were openly discussing a plan where GOP lawmakers would have voted "Present" on the Stupak amendment, knowing full well that the plan would have been defeated, if just Democratic votes were tallied.

That, in turn, would have torpedoed the entire bill.

But pro-life lawmakers nixed the idea, as they ended up easily winning the vote 240-194, getting twenty more votes than the 220-215 tally on final passage of the health bill, as 64 Democrats broke off and voted for the abortion restrictions.

"It is probably - at least in my 17 years here - the largest number of Democrats we've ever had vote for a pro-life amendment," said Stupak.

The obvious hope of liberals is that the provision will be deep-sixed in final negotiations with the Senate. But that won't be easy, because it is entirely possible that the Senate could embrace exactly the same language.

If Democrats really want a health bill out of Congress, they will have to make even more concessions like this one, compromises that cut to the core of their beliefs on certain issues.

We'll see if they really have the stomach for that in coming weeks in the Senate. Many have their doubts.

If they are ready to deal, then they will get a bill to the President's desk.

If not, then this health bill still has a lot of time to run aground and fail.