Rep. Sanchez: Majority of House is pro-life

Even with a sizable Democratic majority, the House of Representatives is more pro-life than pro-choice, according to Rep. Loretta Sanchez  (D-Calif.).

"We have to acknolwledge that the House of Representatives is not a majority pro-choice," she said on "Morning Joe" on Tuesday. "And I've told that to a lot of pro-choice groups. I would count maybe about 150 pro-choice votes. You need 218 to ... pass a bill."

Sanchez explained that some centrist, pro-abortion rights Republicans who used to serve in the House have been replaced either by conservative Republicans or conservative Democrats, most of whom are anti-abortion rights.

The California Democrat predicted that a final healthcare bill would have some kind of abortion restrictions but would be weaker than the Stupak amendment included in the current House legislation.

She predicted that the Stupak language will be "stricken out, but something is still there where people like Bart Stupak ... would still be able to vote for it."

Despite House liberals' recent threat to take down any bill that includes Stupak-like restrictions on coverage, Sanchez said no one wants to be the lawmaker who killed healthcare reform.

"If something fails in the House or fails in the Senate by one or two votes, then those will go down in history as the people who failed healthcare reform. And no one wants to be tagged with that," she said.