US House Passes: As the new Congress gets started, House Republicans are putting the spotlight on the issue of abortion. This comes after the Supreme Court’s critical decision last summer to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.
The GOP-led House voted Wednesday to pass a bill requiring doctors to try to save a baby’s life if it is born alive during or after an abortion or an abortion attempt. The Senate, controlled by Democrats, is not likely to take up the bill, but if it passes the House, it gives the new Republican majority a chance to send a message.
The votes were 220 to 210. Under the bill, health providers who don’t follow the rules for care could be fined or sent to prison for up to five years. The bill would protect the mother from prosecution and would not punish the mother.
Opponents have said that these laws make it harder to get an abortion because they threaten health care providers. In the US, it is already a crime to kill a baby born alive on purpose. The new Republican majority decided to hold the vote after Democrats worked hard to make abortion a major issue in the midterm elections after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
In the midterm elections, Republicans won back control of the House, but the much-anticipated “red wave” didn’t happen. This has led to questions and finger-pointing within the GOP about what factors were most important to the outcome.
The House voted on the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.” Missouri Republican Rep. Ann Wagner introduced it on Monday. NARAL Pro-Choice America criticized the bill and a few others in a statement on Tuesday.
The group’s president, Mini Timmaraju, said, “These bills make it clear that House Republicans are openly rejecting the will of the vast majority of Americans who voted in November to support legal abortion.”
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“In the meantime, our Democratic supporters of reproductive freedom in the House are ready and willing to fight to restore and expand access to abortion, and we thank them for that.” On Wednesday, the House also voted to pass a separate measure that condemns “recent attacks on pro-life facilities, groups, and churches.”
Republicans have a razor-thin majority in the House, and moderates and conservatives couldn’t agree on who should be a speaker during the chaotic, days-long process. Now, the new GOP majority has to bring bills to the floor to bring their conference together, not tear it apart. Republicans are trying to find a way to do both.
Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, has been a vocal critic of her party’s messages about abortion. On Wednesday, she called on Republican leaders to balance “women’s rights” and the “right to life.” She warned that there are “political dangers” for Republicans if they don’t “find some middle ground on the issue.”
Thank you to all the house Republicans & the 1 Democrat who voted for the Born Alive bill today.
This bill guarantees life saving treatments for babies born alive after failed abortions.
Protecting babies shouldn’t be a partisan issue.
— Joe Kent for WA-3 (@joekent16jan19) January 12, 2023
“I have been very vocal, both privately with my leadership and publicly,” Mace said. “This is a point on which we lost. We hid our heads in the sand after Roe v. Wade and lost seats because of this issue.“
Mace voted for both abortion-related bills that were up for a vote in the House on Wednesday. However, he was worried about a possible federal ban on abortions if it said that women had to report rapes or that doctors who perform the procedure could be jailed.
When asked how she thinks the GOP can better protect women’s rights, Mace has spoken openly about being raped and said she is working on rape kits and making it easier for women to get birth control. Please forward this to your friends if you find it interesting. Visit Lighthousejournal.org for the most recent celebrity news and updates.
For almost 4 years, Jason Martin has been a freelance writer for newspapers, journals, blogs, books, and online material. He covers the most recent news as well as many other topics.