Democratic congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio hailed the passage of the Capps amendment as precisely the kind of “common ground” solution he proposed last week to disagreements about abortion coverage in the health care bill. In a phone interview with THE WEEKLY STANDARD on Friday, Ryan, who describes himself as pro-life, said the Capps amendment makes it “very clear that no public money can be used to provide and pay for an abortion. And all of these plans can offer or not offer the services that they want. Our concern is that the public tax dollars don’t go to pay for the service.” But most pro-life members of Congress dispute Ryan’s belief that this is a common ground solution because the amendment will, in fact, allow the public plan and federally-subsidized private plans to cover elective abortions. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) thinks the amendment is a “phony compromise,” and Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) told me, “It’s one of the most deceptive amendments I have ever seen.” Though it claims to ban federal funding of abortion, Smith said, “It will force every area of the country to have a government subsidized private-insurance plan that pays for abortion-on-demand.” Yet, Ryan argues that the bill is a compromise because “there will be a firewall between the public money and the private money” in federally-subsidized private plans and in the public plan, and that only private funds will be used to pay for abortions. “This bill will reduce abortions by providing preventative care and contraception to millions of women who don’t get it now,” Ryan said. Smith believes that this distinction is nothing but a bookkeeping scheme and replies: “The bottom line is that money is fungible, and the plan itself will be subsidizing abortion-on-demand, with taxpayer funding commingled, and the numbers of abortions will go up significantly.” Women already have access to taxpayer-funded contraception through Title X, but they don’t have access to federally-subsidized insurance plans that offer abortion coverage. This is the latest instance in which Ryan has served as a pro-life “front-man” for groups like Planned Parenthood and NARAL, says the National Right to Life Committee’s Douglas Johnson. National pro-life leaders say that Ryan is not pro-life, pointing to his 2004 vote to repeal the ban on abortions at military bases, his recent vote to allow public funding of abortion in D.C, and his votes in favor of embryo-destructive stem-cell research. Ryan responds that in 2004, “I accidentally voted the wrong way” on allowing abortions and military bases, and he had cast pro-life votes on the issue in 2003, 2005, and 2006. While a few anti-abortion legislators (i.e. John McCain) support embryonic stem-cell research, his support for public funding of abortion in D.C.