[milwguy]

Even IF Obama promised to issue exec order, future Presidents can rescind that order. Even IF Obama issued exec order, it mIGHT not withstand a lawsuit challenging its legality since it goes against settled case law on the issue. I saw a good letter about this from a law professor somewhere today. will try to locate

[Red Steel]

You’re correct and you don’t need a law professor to tell you.

[The Pack Knight]

It depends on whether the bill actually requires the funding of abortions. I haven't seen the language myself, but if the Democrats can't agree amongst themselves on what it says, then it must be at least somewhat ambiguous.

If the bill requires federal funding of abortions, as the Stupak group seems to fear, then the President has no authority to issue an executive order against funding abortions. The Steel Seizure Case is pretty clear on that. It would also probably violate the Supreme Court's holding in Clinton v. New York, since it would effectively amount to an unconstitutional line-item veto.