By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Journalist After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told the press last  Friday that she had spoken to the bishops and that they know abortion funding is not in the Senate version of health care reform, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) responded by saying no such discussion took place. CNSNews.com is reporting that during the press conference Speaker Pelosi said: “Let me say it this way, there’s three, three--I don’t want to say principles--but three standards that we are using as we go forward, and I talked to the Catholic bishops about this and people on all sides of the choice issue. “Law prevents federal funding, and federal law prevents federal funding of abortion. There is no federal funding of abortion in this bill. There’ll be no expansion or diminution of a woman’s right to choose and that does not happen in this bill, and we’re determined that we are going to pass health care reform.” She added: “This bill that passed the Senate does not have federal funding of abortion.” However, immediately after the conference, Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the USCCB’s Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities told CNSNews.com that “anyone” who has talked with them knows that the Senate bill, which forms the basis for the president’s proposal, allows taxpayer money to be used to pay for health plans that cover abortion.   “We do not know how anyone who has spoken to the bishops could conclude that the Senate health care bill does not fund abortions,” Doerflinger said in an e-mail statement.   “As the bishops have said in their letters to Congress, abortion problems in the Senate bill are so serious that, despite our strong support for expanding access to health care, we will have to oppose the bill unless they are resolved,” said Doerflinger.   © All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace®  http://www.womenofgrace.com