If you thought that Congressional Republicans were going to back away from social issues in the aftermath of last year's disappointing loss at the presidential level, well, you were mistaken.
Scheduled for a vote in the House later this week is a proposal that would ban all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. It's sponsored by Arizona Republican Trent Franks, who last week provoked outrage when he argued against an amendment would have exempted victims of rape or incest from the bill’s strict limits.
“Before, when my friends on the left side of the aisle here tried to make rape and incest the subject — because, you know, the incidence of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low, but when you make that exception, there’s usually a requirement to report the rape within 48 hours. And in this case that’s impossible because this is in the sixth month of gestation. And that’s what completely negates and vitiates the purpose for such an amendment,” Franks said during a House Judiciary Committee hearing (on Friday the GOP amended it to include an exception for rape and incest).
Tampa-area Democrat Kathy Castor says she strongly opposes the bill.
"This is another example of the extreme position that Congressional Republicans are taking. We thought the war on women is over, but apparently not," Castor told CL Monday morning after she wrapped a press conference regarding the Farm Bill at a West Tampa elementary school.
"What really gets me is that you have these almost all male politicians in Washington, trying to make personal decisions that impact women, their families, their relationships. I trust women to make these decisions, not these older white males in Washington D.C.," Castor said.
11 states across the country have passed laws similar to the House proposal, some tied up in the courts. North Dakota's is the strictest. Their bill prohibits abortions after just six weeks.
Groups supporting abortion rights and opposing them differ on how frequent such abortions take place. But the Centers for Disease and Control and Preventionreported in 2000 that just 1.4 percent of abortions involve fetuses older than 20 weeks.
Not everyone in the GOP ranks is happy either about the bill coming up for a vote. Pennsylvania Republican Representative Charlie Dent criticized the House-GOP leadership for allowing the bill to come up for a vote.
“I’ll be very frank: I discouraged our leadership from bringing this to a vote on the floor,” Dent told CQ Roll Call.“Clearly the economy is on everyone’s minds, we’re seeing very stagnant job numbers, confidence in the institution of government is eroding and now we’re going to have a debate on rape and abortion," he said, adding "The stupidity is simply staggering."
"I thought they had learned the lesson through the election," Congresswoman Castor said when asked if she was surprised House Republicans were intent on passing this bill. "I tell you, some of these men in the Congress really think they need to control women's bodies, women's lives, make those decisions for them." She also pointed out that, if and when the bill gets through the House, it will likely go nowhere in the Democratically controlled Senate.