House Republicans are trying to act quickly on abortion now that they are in the majority
House Republicans are moving toward early action on abortion with their new majority, voting Wednesday on two measures that make clear they want more restrictions after the Supreme Court struck down federal abortion rights last year. .
The new GOP-led House is voting on a resolution condemning attacks on anti-abortion facilities, including pregnancy crisis centers, and on legislation that would make it difficult to deny care to a baby born alive after an abortion attempt. Will be fined.
Neither is expected to pass the Democratic-led Senate, but Republicans say they are making good on promises to address the issue along with other legislative priorities in their first days in power.
New House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who led debate on the measure, said, “You don’t have liberty, true liberty, unless the government protects your most fundamental right, your right to live.” does.”
Still, the two measures are far from a bold statement on abortion, which has proved politically difficult for them since June. The Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade After about 50 years and allowed states to impose almost or complete bans on abortion. While some Republicans have pushed to expand on the ruling with a national ban — or a compromise ban that would limit abortion after a certain point — many Republicans have rejected that option. And it has become clear that a majority of Americans will oppose it.
A July AP-NORC poll showed Republicans are largely opposed to allowing abortion “for any reason” and after 15 weeks into a pregnancy. According to AP VoteCast, a national poll of voters, a majority of voters said abortion should be legal in all or most cases. This includes nearly 9 in 10 Democrats and nearly 4 in 10 Republicans.
National sentiment has made some Republicans wary of the party’s traditional all-out opposition to abortion rights.
South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mays, who says she opposes abortion, said she believes the initial push on the issue is misplaced. He said he believed a majority of voters in his swing district opposed the Supreme Court’s decision to overrule Roe.
“That’s probably not the way to start the week,” Mays told MSNBC.
Fueled by opposition to the Supreme Court ruling, Democrats enthusiastically opposed the two measures, predicting that Republicans were merely laying the groundwork for a national ban.
Republicans who supported the bill took pains not to link it to overturning Rowe.
“I want to be absolutely clear that this bill has nothing to do with the Supreme Court’s decision,” said Missouri Rep. Ann Wagner, the bill’s Republican sponsor.
Still, Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said, “The differences between our side of the aisle and their side of the aisle couldn’t be any clearer.”
Democrats criticized the one-sidedness of the resolution condemning attacks on life-support facilities because it did not condemn similar — and long-standing — violence against abortion clinics. The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, said the resolution is “grossly incomplete”.
Democrats argued that the law imposing new penalties on doctors is unnecessary because killing an infant is already illegal. He said it would create complex new standards that would make it harder for health providers to do their jobs.
“It’s a mean-spirited solution looking for a problem,” said Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif.
Last summer, the Democratic-led House voted to restore abortion rights nationwide, but that legislation was blocked in the closely divided Senate. That bill would expand on protections that Roe previously provided, which supporters say are medically unnecessary restrictions that prevent access to safe and accessible abortion.
Although Democrats control the Senate, they would need nine GOP votes to bypass the filibuster and pass legislation on abortion. Only two Senate Republicans, Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, have been supporters of abortion rights.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Americans elected Senate Democrats “to be a firewall” against what he said are Republicans’ extremist views.
“Republicans are proving how dangerously out of touch they are with mainstream America,” Schumer said.