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Republican Senator John Thune (S.D.) predicted Monday that many in his party will support an amendment to the Senate’s health care reform bill barring federal funding for abortion.

“A lot of us on the Republican side will support that amendment,” Thune said during an afternoon press conference. “I certainly hope that it passes.”

However, Thune is wary that the amendment will garner the 60 votes needed for inclusion in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

“The quesion is whether or not we can get to 60, which I think is very much in doubt. I think we can get to 50,” said Thune. “I’m enough of a realist, talking to both Democrats and Republicans, to believe that that is going to be a very heavy lift.”

Last Friday, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) stated that he does not believe the amendment will pass if it has language similar to an amendment provided by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) in the House health care bill.

The amendment may be necessary to secure the vote of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who has aired dissatisfaction with the bill’s current language on abortion funding.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Ok.) added that he believes that language similar to the Stupak amendment approved in the House will end up in the manager’s amendment.