US House Passes One of Two Important Pro-Life Bills; Find Out What This New Law Does To Abortion

Aimee Herd/Tony Perkins, FRC : Jan 23, 2015
Family Research Council

"[This legislation] would permanently wall off taxpayers from the bloody business of abortion in ObamaCare and other federal legislation." -Tony Perkins, FRC.

The US House of Representatives this week passed important legislation regarding the taxpayer funding of abortion. However, that bill was addressed only after waylaying the bill on which they were planning to vote; the "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act." (Photo via House.gov)

Below are excerpts from a report on both measures by Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council (FRC). Read the full report from FRC here.

After meeting all day with conservatives, House Rules Committee Chair Pete Sessions (R-Texas) made the reluctant decision to pull the pain ban and replace it with another pro-life measure, H.R. 7, the No Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Act, which is another one of FRC’s top priorities.

The plan had been to move Rep. Trent Franks’ (R-AZ) five-month abortion limit first and then turn off the spigot for federal dollars for abortion next. Unfortunately, that plan was spoiled—not by liberal Democrats, but so-called pro-life Republican women like Renee Ellmers (NC) and Jackie Walorski (IN). Both had previously voted for the measure but last week began organizing opposition to the rape and incest reporting requirements, which were a part of the compromise they help reached in the last Congress. What the reporting requirement does is simple: it insists that anyone who says they were raped and seeks an abortion after the fifth month of pregnancy has to report the assault to authorities…

If Ellmers and others had picked this fight before, pro-lifers might understand. But the reality is, Ellmers and her RINO allies voted for this exact same language in 2013 when the Pain-Capable bill passed the House. So you can understand why groups like FRC were confused—not only by the timing of this stand (just days before a vote that had been planned since last year), but by the group’s sudden opposition.

While this isn’t exactly how pro-lifers planned to mark the 42nd March for Life, we were just as thrilled that House conservatives united to pass the No Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Act—a bill that would permanently wall off taxpayers from the bloody business of abortion in ObamaCare and other federal legislation. For Rep. Smith, Democratic sponsor Rep Dan Lipinski (IL), and the entire movement, seeing the No Taxpayer Funding of Abortion pass the House was a tremendous victory, several years in the making. And not just for us—but for an overwhelming number of Americans who support the idea (68% according to this morning’s polling).

To the credit of House leaders, all but one Republican—even the wobbly ones—voted yes on the bill. As disappointed as we are at the handful of members who delayed the pain ban, we applaud the House leadership for remaining committed to advancing pro-life legislation.