Bill passes with 242-184 vote; unlikely to
become law
By Kristina Peterson
and Louise Radnofsky , May 13, 2015 5:55 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON—The House
on Wednesday passed modified legislation banning abortions after 20 weeks of
pregnancy, months after concerns from centrist and female Republicans derailed
a vote on the bill.
The legislation stands
little chance of becoming law, as President Barack Obama is unlikely to sign it even if it clears
Congress. Still, the bill highlights the challenges Republicans face tackling
an issue important to conservatives without alienating some women voters ahead
of the 2016 elections.
A group of lawmakers,
led by Reps. Diane Black (R., Tenn.) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R., Wash.),
worked for weeks to hash out changes to win more GOP support for the bill,
which passed 242 to 184.
Some Republicans had
balked in January over forcing rape victims to report the assault to
law-enforcement officials to qualify for the bill’s narrow exceptions allowing
an abortion.
The bill would no
longer require rape victims to file a police report. Instead, abortion
providers would be required to ensure victims had received counseling or
medical treatment at least 48 hours before the abortion.
“It’s a stronger
bill,” Ms. Black said of the legislation, which was amended in a Rules
Committee meeting Tuesday evening. “Rather than having a woman prove she was
raped, let’s give her medical care and counseling.”
The bill also includes
new provisions requiring a second doctor be present in cases where a fetus
might be born alive during an attempted abortion, and that doctor would be
required to provide neonatal care.
Rep. Charlie Dent (R.,
Pa.) said Tuesday he still had some concerns with the legislation, including
its limited carve-out for incest victims who are minors, but not those who are
older. The bill would allow incest victims under the age of 18 to have an
abortion beyond the 20-week cutoff.
Mr. Dent, a centrist
Republican, said the GOP would do better to stick to economic issues that
resonate with more Americans, rather than pass contentious social policy the
president is unlikely to sign. “This is a lot of time and energy spent on a
bill that really has no chance of becoming law,” he said.
In the Senate,
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) has expressed support for a 20-week
abortion ban, but hasn’t indicated he would bring it to the floor soon.
In late January,
controversy over the legislation’s exceptions for cases of rape forced GOP
leaders to pull the bill. The vote had been scheduled to coincide with the
March for Life in Washington, and the delay was a big blow for many
antiabortion activists.
The White House had
issued a veto threat in January, calling the bill “an assault on a woman’s
right to choose.”
Antiabortion groups
had successfully pushed similar bills in more than a dozen state legislatures
and wanted to be able to eventually test it before the Supreme Court. American
voters generally believe abortion should be legal, but many have misgivings
about abortion later in pregnancy. Antiabortion groups have sought to build on
that.
The changes have the
backing of key groups such as Americans United for Life, which praised them
this week as “enhancements.” The group said it would score lawmakers on their
votes for the bill.
“This type of
legislation represents the mother-child strategy that AUL Action recommends
because it deals directly with the ugly reality of abortion, which hurts both
mother and child,” said Charmaine Yoest, the group’s president.
The Susan B. Anthony
List, which supports antiabortion candidates, said the negotiations had yielded
a “strong bill” and the organization planned to use the vote as a key issue in
the coming presidential and congressional election cycle.
“This legislation will
be the defining abortion issue of the 2016 elections and put pro-life
candidates on offense,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B.
Anthony List.
Groups that favor
abortion rights have argued that abortions later in pregnancy are rare, and
often arise from complicated situations that should be decided by a woman and
her doctor. They say they can persuade voters to oppose bans when they explain
the reasons that women may seek such abortions, such as fetal anomalies.
“When they understand
the real life impact that these laws have, most people oppose them,” said Eric
Ferrero, vice president for communications at the Planned Parenthood Federation
of America. “At the end of the day, the American public is deeply uncomfortable
with politicians inserting themselves into women’s personal health care
decisions.”
Groups backing
abortion rights said they believed the changes still posed unnecessary hurdles
for women who had been raped.
Naral Pro-Choice
America advocates said the bill also raised safety problems for abortion
providers by creating a new requirement for them to report the services they
provided.
“In addition to the
legislation’s other major problems, it’s especially concerning that the bill’s
sponsors are also trying to force doctors who provide later abortion services
to report that to the government—including their location—which could have the
makings of an antiabortion ‘hit list,’ ” said Donna Crane, vice president of
policy for the group.
Write to Kristina Peterson at kristina.peterson@wsj.com and Louise Radnofsky at louise.radnofsky@wsj.com
http://www.wsj.com/articles/house-passes-bill-banning-abortions-after-20-weeks-1431554099?utm_source=Heading+toward+Athens+-+GaPundit+for+May+14%2C+2015&utm_campaign=GaPundit+Todd+Rehm+Georgia+Politics+51415&utm_medium=email
No comments:
Post a Comment