Rev. Carlton Veazey, president and CEO of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, told a small crowd of pro-abortion protesters that women have a “God-given right” to abortion and that opposition from pro-life congressmen and religious leaders would never take it away.

Veazey, closing speaker at a “Stop Stupak” rally on Capitol Hill staged by major pro-abortion groups such as Planned Parenthood, NARAL-Pro Choice, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) told the crowd that not only did they have a constitutional right to abortion, but that they had a God-given one as well.

“Don’t let anybody tell you that religious people don’t support choice,” Veazey said at the gathering in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. “You not only have a constitutional right for abortion, but you have a God-given right.”

The rally was held to inspire abortion rights protesters ahead of a day of lobbying for federal funding of abortion in health care reform legislation. The event also served as an outlet for the activists to vent anger at the amendment offered by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) to the House health care bill.

The amendment prohibits any federal money from paying for any part of a health insurance plan that covers abortion and was successfully attached to the House bill in a bipartisan vote.

Pro-abortion members of Congress also attended the rally. They urged attendees to lobby hard against the Stupak amendment to have it stripped from a final version of the bill.

“Make no mistake, the Stupak amendment does not reaffirm existing law – it goes way past it,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.). “It disallows private insurers who operate in the new exchange from covering abortion services in plans receiving government subsidies.”

Calling the Stupak amendment “a stain,” DeLauro said that pro-abortion activists must make legislators “feel your wrath” if abortion coverage is to be preserved.

“So we all have a role to play in doing right by America’s women and making sure comprehensive health insurance reform finally gets passed,” DeLauro said. “But I am confident we will get there again, and that the Affordable Health Care for America Act will become the law of the land, without the stain of Stupak/Pitts.” (The Stupak amendment was co-written with Republican Rep. Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania.)