An unusual public split between U.S. Roman Catholic bishops, nuns and hospitals over abortion in the health care overhaul could undermine the church hierarchy’s influence on the debate and give anti-abortion Democrats the political cover they need to vote for the bill.

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which opposes the Senate bill up for a House vote this weekend, warned that some forces are trying to use the rift to push the legislation through Congress.

“I think what is going on here is kind of a political tactic that has been used elsewhere, where you divide the potential enemies in such a way that people who can’t be brought over to your way of thinking are isolated,” said Chicago Cardinal Francis George told The Associated Press.

The disagreement among Catholics has to do with whether the bill would allow federal funding of abortion.

The U.S. bishops believe it does and said they “regretfully” opposes the bill even though they have been pushing for health care reform for more than four decades.

But the Catholic Health Association, which represents 600 hospitals, and about 60 Catholic nuns from various orders and groups disagree and urged Congress to pass the bill.