Speaking as the senate's leading pro-choice voice, Washington state's senior Sen. Patty Murray issued a statement to the NYT on Saturday supporting the abortion deal that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) reached with Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) to get 60 votes for health care reform.

Our other senator (and also a strong pro-choice advocate), Sen. Maria Cantwell, issued a statement yesterday about the bill, but she did not mention the abortion deal.

This morning, however, her spokesman John Diamond told PubliCola:

“The language now in the health care bill essentially upholds current law with regard to abortion and abortion funding. The firewall between public and private funding is maintained, as are reproductive rights for women.

Earlier versions of the bill attempted to inject the abortion debate into the health care reform effort. Those provisions were unacceptable. It’s a debate for another time. Senator Cantwell’s focus is on passing this important reform.”