BOSTON -- Democrats in the U.S. Senate race came out swinging Tuesday in what may be the biggest controversy in the race to date: abortion.

NewsCenter 5's Janet Wu reported that Martha Coakley accused her opponents of compromising their principles, while Steve Pagliuca and Rep. Michael Capuano accuse her sacrificing Sen. Ted Kennedy's legacy: health care reform.

"If you were the 60th vote on the health care reform bill and this abortion ban were still in it, would you still vote against the bill?" Wu asked.

"The short answer is yes," Coakley said.

This weekend's House vote moving the health care reform bill to the Senate includes a provision that goes beyond the Hyde Amendment in banning federal funding for abortions. Coakley said she would not have voted for the House bill.

Capuano accused her of being unrealistic, saying no bill is perfect.

"I did not believe we had to compromise what are women's reproductive rights and choices around health care to get a good health care vote. So I would not have done that. I don't believe I would do that in the Senate and I do not believe I have to do that," Coakley said.

"I'm alarmed. She would have been the 60th vote in the Senate. And that would have stopped health care reform. We've got to make progress. We have to get 30 million people covered," Pagliuca said.

Pagliuca and Capuano said senators supporting abortion rights will now fight to get the amendment changed.

"To say we'll horse trade it now and go back to fix it later, I don't believe in that strategy. And I don't think people who believe strongly believe in that have confidence it will get fixed later," Coakley said.

Rep. Patrick Kennedy and every Massachusetts House member voted for the House bill. Pagliuca said he believes Sen. Ted Kennedy would have done the same.

"He's pragmatic. He would have voted for the bill and then gotten up the next day to get rid of those provisions," Pagliuca said.

"I don't think Sen. Kennedy would compromise constitutional rights and trade away to get something. His great strength was, in fact, making sure that he got the right result," Coakley said.

Capuano said while he stands by his vote this weekend, he will join with 40 other House members in denouncing the abortion amendment.

He said if he and other pro-choice congressman had refused to vote for the House reform package, it would be dead today.

But when pushed, Capuano admitted, that if the abortion funding ban is still in the final bill that comes out of conference committee he "probably" will not vote for it.