US: GOP pushes abortion bill through House on March for Life Day

[webfact]

GOP pushes abortion bill through House on March for Life Day
By ALAN FRAM

WASHINGTON (AP) — With thousands of abortion protesters swarming the city in their annual March for Life, Republicans muscled broadened abortion restrictions through the House on Thursday after a GOP rebellion forced leaders into an awkward retreat on an earlier version.

By a near party-line 242-179 vote, the House voted to permanently forbid federal funds for most abortion coverage. The bill would also block tax credits for many people and employers who buy abortion coverage under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

A White House veto threat and an uncertain fate in the Senate mean the legislation has no realistic chance of becoming law. But on a day when crowds of anti-abortion demonstrators stretched for blocks outside Capitol windows — and hours after the embarrassing GOP stumble on another abortion measure — Thursday's vote let party leaders signal that the Congress they now command is at least trying to end abortion.

The GOP's passage of one bill and the abrupt derailment of another forbidding most late-term abortions underscored the party's perilous balancing act of backing abortion restrictions crucial to conservatives while not alienating women and younger voters wary of such restrictions.

Obama, out West to promote his State of the Union economic agenda, embraced the same 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion that the protesters were vilifying.

He said that decision "reaffirms a fundamental American value: that government should not intrude in our most private and personal family matters." He said the House-passed bill would "intrude on women's reproductive freedom and access to health care and unnecessarily restrict the private insurance choices that consumers have today."

Republican House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio praised the marchers in a written statement that also seemed to acknowledge discord among Republicans.

"This march is part of a longer one, and our destination is clear: to secure and protect the rights of every unborn child. When there is disagreement, we should pause and listen closely. When there is movement, we should rejoice, and the House's vote to ban taxpayer funding of abortion is cause for doing so," he said.

Even so, the GOP sidetracking of the late-term abortion measure sparked grumbling from politically potent allies.

In a sharp statement that singled out Rep. Renee Ellmers, R-N.C., and others, National Right to Life President Carol Tobias criticized GOP dissenters on the late-term bill and warned, "Some of these lawmakers may ultimately conclude that they were ill advised to sacrifice the trust of their pro-life constituents so egregiously."

Ellmers, who has had a strong anti-abortion voting record, was among those who had objected to portions of the late-term abortion bill. Her spokeswoman, Blair Ellis, declined to comment.

Dozens of protesters visited her Capitol Hill office Thursday to protest her role in scuttling that measure.

On the House floor, a debate that has raged virtually every year for decades was emotional, as usual.

"Abortion is not health care. It's a brutal procedure that ends lives of unborn children," said Rep. Joseph Pitts, R-Pa.

"I urge my colleagues to stand with the hundreds of thousands of people out on the Mall right now by voting for this bill," said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

Democrats said such talk showed that Republicans were willing to subjugate women's rights to political pandering to the crowds outside.

"Women's rights should not be theater, it shouldn't be drama," said Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn.

The debate took a turn for the personal when Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., referred to "hypocrites on the other side of the aisle who have counseled their own girl friends to have abortions. It's legal."

Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., a doctor who opposes abortion rights, once urged a patient he was dating to seek an abortion. His aides did not return phone and email requests for comment.

Outside, thousands of demonstrators trudged up Capitol Hill to the Supreme Court in protest of the justices' legalization of abortion 42 years ago. Some wore religious garb while others carried signs with messages ranging from "I am a voice for the voiceless" to "Thank God my mom's pro-life."

No. 4 House GOP leader Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state told the crowd that her 7-year-old son, who has Down syndrome, has intensified her commitment to the anti-abortion fight.

The approved bill would permanently block federal money for nearly all abortions — a prohibition in effect for decades but one which Congress must renew yearly. Rape and incest victims and women whose lives were in danger would be exempted.

The bill would also bar individuals and some employers from earning tax credits for insurance plans covering abortion that they pay for privately and obtain through exchanges established under Obama's Affordable Care Act. It would also block the District of Columbia from using its money to cover abortions for lower-income women.

Thursday's vote came hours after GOP leaders indefinitely abandoned a bill banning most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, retreating in the face of a revolt by women and other Republican lawmakers that left them short of votes.

GOP leaders had planned a House vote on that bill Thursday. But rebellious Republicans complained that while the measure exempted victims of rape and incest, it did so only if those women had previously reported the assaults to authorities.

Republican leaders flinched at the prospect of forcing passage of anti-abortion legislation opposed by GOP women.
___

Associated Press writers Jessica Gresko, Connie Cass and Laurie Kellman contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-01-23

[Pinot]

Another brilliant move by the GOP sure to alienate the few women voters that remain. The bill of course will be vetoed by Obama if it makes it to him. Always appealing to the loony tune base, Republicans are pathetic.

[samran]

Has someone told the GOP that women make up 50% of the population?

[marquisdesade]

What Idiots, why don't the politicians keep their laws off of other people's bodies !

[ggt]

The GOP is standing up for the rights of unborn children...who can not defend themselves from this inhumane death of convenience...women's rights...a woman made her choice when she had unprotected sex and got pregnant...why should her own flesh and blood have to die for her error in judgment?

Yes...I know...I am now ready to receive my punishment for being so cruel and not understanding of woman...right!

[TPI]

No, not for being more understanding to women! For being a lunkhead! Are you prepared to pay for any unwanted child that is born to an abused or brutalised mother, I'm not talking about rape or sexual assault, I'm talking about the victims of marital rape and abuse.....only an unthinking cockbrain would condemn those women to childbirth of a child they not only don't want, they don't have the means to feed and support! GOP voters!

[Jingthing]

This new republican dominated congress showing they aren't actually interested in governing, only politically posturing. Surprising? No. Pathetic? Yes.

They know full well this bill will be vetoed by Obama. Waste of time!

Edited January 23, 2015 by Jingthing

[OMGImInPattaya]

Has someone told the GOP that women make up 50% of the population?

So that makes a holocaust of the unborn okay?

[Seastallion]

It's not surprising the GOP have this stance. Wasn't it G Dubbya Bush that thought Rowe Vs Wade were two options for getting out of New Orleans after Katrina?

[Jingthing]

Has someone told the GOP that women make up 50% of the population?

So that makes a holocaust of the unborn okay?

Yes. Gas up the ovens dude. Just kidding. Can't take your hyperbole seriously.

Sent from my Lenovo S820_ROW using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[OMGImInPattaya]

Has someone told the GOP that women make up 50% of the population?

So that makes a holocaust of the unborn okay?

Yes. Gas up the ovens dude. Just kidding. Can't take your hyperbole seriously.

Sent from my Lenovo S820_ROW using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

One-million plus unborn babies murdered a year is "hyperbole" to you? Forty-two years of legalized murder equates to more than 20,000,000 babies killed...no Zyklon necessary. The Shoah of our time.

[Jingthing]

They're not babies.

It's funny that right wing Americans are so concerned about life BEFORE birth but so little concerned about life AFTER birth.

[rickirs]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

The GOP is standing up for the rights of unborn children...who can not defend themselves from this inhumane death of convenience...women's rights...a woman made her choice when she had unprotected sex and got pregnant...why should her own flesh and blood have to die for her error in judgment?

Yes...I know...I am now ready to receive my punishment for being so cruel and not understanding of woman...right!

By GOP logic, a man who uses condoms should be guilty of murder since it deprives a woman of conception, hence the rights of unborn children. That rationale would also apply to a man who masturbates. A man who remains a virgin likewise deprives the rights of unborn children. Somehow I don't believe that the GOP practices what it preaches.

[chuckd]

It is of interest to note that Planned Parenthood, the federal government's abortion provider, aborted approximately 117,955 black babies in 2013.

During that same 2013, police killed 123 black men.

This means Planned Parenthood killed 959 times as many blacks as did policemen in the performance of their duties.

Where's the outrage over that?

http://www.onenewsnow.com/perspectives/bryan-fischer/2015/01/16/planned-parenthood-kills-1000-times-as-many-blacks-as-cops-do#.VMIZ3dKh_Ic

https://www.facebook.com/BreitbartOneSilencedMillionsAwakened/photos/a.198312883608836.34844.198021666971291/636453749794745/

http://downtrend.com/robertgehl/planned-parenthood-says-black-lives-matter/

[Pinot]

They're not babies.

It's funny that right wing Americans are so concerned about life BEFORE birth but so little concerned about life AFTER birth.

Come on, man! Don't point out the hypocrisy of the Fox Spews lemmings or they won't post anything here.

References to hilarious statements like "Planned Parenthood holocaust" and "baby murdering" are the best! These lemmings see the world with a magical paranoid innocence that I can get enough of.

Edited January 24, 2015 by Pinot

[Jingthing]

My response is simply a rejection of your personalized baiting. Nothing more. Nothing less. Except in your vivid imagination.

[samran]

Has someone told the GOP that women make up 50% of the population?

So that makes a holocaust of the unborn okay?

I believe life begins at conception so abortion makes me extremely uncomfortable. But plenty don't have that same belief plenty of them are women.

My answer was purely a political answer. Not a observations on the wrongs and rights of the policy.

[Ulysses G.]

I believe life begins at conception so abortion makes me extremely uncomfortable. But plenty don't have that same belief plenty of them are women.

Interesting.

Personally, I have no problem with abortion in the first few months, but I have no idea when the embryo turns into a thinking, feeling human being. I understand why many people object to abortion after that point, but, of course, it is not easy to pinpoint.

[beechguy]

Has someone told the GOP that women make up 50% of the population?

Yes, and I'm always interested in the group, that says the government should leave their bodies alone, but also the first ones to suggest the government should help pay for their abortions and contraceptives.

[samran]

Has someone told the GOP that women make up 50% of the population?

Yes, and I'm always interested in the group, that says the government should leave their bodies alone, but also the first ones to suggest the government should help pay for their abortions and contraceptives.

The hypocracy works both ways. Those who are fervent on individual rights on the GOP side of things and small government have no problem extending the arm of government on this particular issue.

The case for some sort of funding would run along the lines of that if you don't have it then people would resort to cheapy backyard abortions which also put the life of the mother at danger.

This whole issue from a policy issue is a vexed one. The answers aren't simple, no matter how much we wish them to be...

Edited January 24, 2015 by samran

[Jingthing]

From the liberal POV, abortion is clearly best avoided and best not ideally to be used as an alternative for birth control. That implies better access to sex education and contraceptive measures rather than anti-sexual campaigns for abstinence which of course don't work. Understandably some religions do define a human life as existing at conception but there is no reason secular societies should be dictated to by religious dogma. I personally know women who have felt emotion pain and even regret due to having abortions ... I don't know how often that occurs, it's a kind of last resort in a way but it needs to be available to all woman, safely, affordably, and without religious intervention. I understand some women are using abortion as de facto birth control. That's disturbing but still better than no access to abortion choice.

Edited January 24, 2015 by Jingthing

[Scott]

Politician's have names. If you deliberately misspell them, it is off-topic trolling and your posts will and have been removed, along with replies. There are no politicians named Obummer or Nobrainer. This policy is forum wide, by the way.

[NeverSure]

From the liberal POV, abortion is clearly best avoided and best not ideally to be used as an alternative for birth control. That implies better access to sex education and contraceptive measures rather than anti-sexual campaigns for abstinence which of course don't work. Understandably some religions do define a human life as existing at conception but there is no reason secular societies should be dictated to by religious dogma. I personally know women who have felt emotion pain and even regret due to having abortions ... I don't know how often that occurs, it's a kind of last resort in a way but it needs to be available to all woman, safely, affordably, and without religious intervention. I understand some women are using abortion as de facto birth control. That's disturbing but still better than no access to abortion choice.

I'm "religious." It's personal. It's not up to me to cram my beliefs down your throat.

I come from a free country whose founders guaranteed freedom from religion as well as freedom to choose a religion if desired. In my country it's paraphrased as "separation of church and state."

I also believe in the rule of law and even more so after encountering countries which don't have it. My Constitution which guarantees my Freedoms is the Supreme Law of The Land. In response I would not take away your freedoms.

This debate could go on for days but I won't take a side in it. It's personal.

[puck2]

Many TVF-members and the US-Reps don't like the "nanny state". They don't like state interference in their private life. But when it concerns the highly individual decision - abortion for whatever reason - the state should play the role of a "nanny". What a contradiction.