As the senatorial candidates traded jabs over their positions on abortion restrictions, the current holder of the seat they all want, Sen. Paul Kirk, hopes the terms in the Stupak amendment never get near the Senate floor.

Keith Maley, a spokesman for Sen. Paul Kirk, says Kirk supports “current federal law, which is a longstanding compromise between deeply held beliefs. That federal law now prevents federal funds from being used to fund abortions.”

What has pro-choice advocates here concerned is that the amendment could also affect state-run Medicaid plans — and make it more difficult for poor women in Massachusetts to obtain abortion services.

Maley declined to say what Kirk would do if the language of the Stupak amendment appeared in the Senate bill. “He doesn’t get into hypotheticals or what ifs. He supports current federal law, and he believes that it will be reflected in the final legislation,” said Maley.