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(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
BY JOHN O'CONNOR
The Republican-led House of Representatives approved a bill Tuesday afternoon banning
women's ability to seek abortion after the 20-week mark.
The far-reaching bill — passed on a mostly party-line vote — would make such abortions
a crime punishable by prison. Politicos say it stands almost no chance of becoming a law
under the Obama administration. (Via C-SPAN)
USA Today reports the White House has already issued a veto threat, calling the bill an
"assault on a woman's right to choose."
And the Democrat-controlled Senate also refused to take up the bill.
On the House floor, California Democrat Zoe Lofgren said the bill is unconstitutional
and a direct challenge to Roe vs. Wade — the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision which legalized
abortion nationwide. (Via YouTube/RepZoeLofgren)
And Businessweek notes "...in 1992 [the court] reaffirmed that the government can't ban abortions
before the fetus is capable of living outside the womb, which is generally considered to
begin at about 24 weeks."
However, supporters of the bill — including
House Speaker John Boehner — justify the vote as a response to to the recent ***
conviction of Philadelphia physician Kermit Gosnell, whose disturbing late-term abortion
procedures garnered national attention. (Via Weekly Standard)
Boehner: "Listen, after this Kermit Gosnell trial and some of the horrific acts that were
going on, the vast majority of the American people believe in the substance of this bill,
and so do I." (Via NBC)
A blogger for The Washington Post says
the abortion debate is tricky terrain for the GOP, who suffered big losses at the polls
in 2012 in part for their inability to appeal to women voters.
"The debate on the bill allows Democrats to continue the theme of a GOP 'war on women'
... [And] will provide more microphone time during which Republicans may get into rhetorical
hot water."
But the debate this time around seems to be framed a bit differently, with GOP lawmakers
presenting their legislation in the context of protecting maternal and fetal health, and
around the fetuses' ability to feel pain.
North Carolina Republican Virginia Foxx reportedly wept on the House floor when she explained,
"The practice of murdering viable unborn children who can feel pain must end ... " (Via The
Wall Street Journal)
At least 10 state legislatures have passed
bills similar to newly-approved U.S. House bill. Two of those states' laws have been
deemed unconstitutional by federal courts.