It is nuns versus priests in the battle for health care reform with the news that the largest nun's organization wants passage of the bill currently before Congress while the U.S. Conference of Bishops oppose it.

"Despite false claims to the contrary, the Senate bill will not provide taxpayer funding for elective abortions," said a letter signed by 60 leaders of women's religious orders. "It will uphold longstanding conscience protections and it will make historic new investments ... in support of pregnant women. This is the real pro-life stance, and we as Catholics are all for it."

However the U.S. Conference of Bishops could not disagree more. They agree with the National Right to Life Committee that the bill makes it easier to get abortions.

"This is politics; this isn't a question of faith and morals," said Irish American Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of Network, a national Catholic social activism lobby.

"We are the ones who work every day with people who are suffering because they don't have health care. We cannot turn our backs on them, so for us, health care reform is a faith-based response to human need."

It looks like the nuns may be winning . Denis Kucinich who opposed the bill last time says he will vote yes now and so does Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Mich., who announced his support for the bill after first opposing it on abortion grounds

Kildee said "Voting for this bill in no way diminishes my pro-life voting record or undermines my beliefs," he said. "I am a staunch pro-life member of Congress,both for the born and the unborn."