Lawmakers discuss abortion legislation

Jan. 26--WASHINGTON -- Sen. Claire McCaskill opposed one House abortion plan and Rep. Vicky Hartzler backed another that won approval last week.

While running for reelection in 2012, rape and reproductive rights became a centerpiece in McCaskill's campaign. Her opponent, former Rep. Todd Akin, R-Missouri, raised the issue when he suggested a woman who experiences a "legitimate rape" is not likely to get pregnant.

Some say that statement cost Akin the election.

The Republican-dominated House last week passed a bill permanently barring federal funding of abortions.

The measure passed only after a more restrictive bill failed because some Republican lawmakers balked at requiring victims to bear their rapists' babies.

A provision in the stricter bill -- criminalizing almost all late-term abortions, the Associated Press reported -- would have allowed women to have an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy only if raped, and if they reported that rape to law enforcers.

Defections by some Republicans led House leaders to withdraw the bill.

"I'm pleased that there are some women in the House that spoke up. That has not been the history of the House members that are Republican women," McCaskill said.

As the Senate's most moderate member, based on a National Journal ranking, McCaskill said both parties have extremists, either on the far left or far right.

The bill's defeat is a victory for moderation, she said.

"I'm just pleased that the more moderate women in the House caucus, the more moderate members of the House caucus, have prevailed again over the extreme element," McCaskill said. "I know that's hard. (Speaker John) Boehner typically kowtows to the extreme element in his caucus, so maybe this is a good sign."

Forbidding all abortions after about five months went too far, she said.

"If you understand the terminations that occur after 20 weeks, many times it's for fatal defects that occur with the fetus, and there's not the technology for those (defects) to be discovered prior to 20 weeks," McCaskill said.

Few abortions, about 1.3 percent, take place after 20 weeks, she said, adding abortions are down in the United States.

WorldNetDaily reported there are 739 abortion clinics in the U.S. doing about 3,000 abortions daily. The number of clinics is down 23 percent in the past five years and down by two thirds compared to 1991.

McCaskill, a former prosecutor, said females who are raped should have the right to an abortion without reporting that rape to law enforcers.

"There are a lot of personal reasons that people may not want to report, but that doesn't mean that they should be obligated to carry to term the child of their rapist," McCaskill said.

By a near party-line, 242-179 vote, the House voted for a less restrictive measure to forbid permanently federal funds for most abortion coverage. The bill would block tax credits for many people and employers who buy abortion coverage under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, The Associated Press reported.

Hartzler co-sponsored the less-restrictive bill. The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act, H.R. 7 would establish a permanent ban on taxpayer subsidies for abortion; Rape and incest victims and women whose lives were in danger would be exempted.

"It is wrong for the federal government to force American citizens to use their tax dollars to fund abortions," Hartzler said in a prepared statement. "And while the Hyde Amendment prevents most appropriated funds from being used for this procedure, the American taxpayer is footing the bill for subsidies under Obamacare to pay for plans that provide abortion services."

Hartzler stated the Government Accountability Office found Obamacare plans sold in 2014 and found that more than 1,000 included abortion coverage. The House-approved bill goes further to protect Americans from inadvertently paying for abortions by requiring that Obamacare exchanges prominently display any information regarding abortion coverage and the amount of any abortion surcharge, Hartzler stated.

"While abortion is a very controversial issue, reasonable people on both sides can agree that taxpayers should not have to pay for abortion services," she stated. "I urge the Senate to join the House in protecting American taxpayers from any and all requirements that they spend their hard-earned dollars to fund abortion."

If the bill passes the Senate, Obama has threatened a veto.

The measures arose during last week's anniversary marking the Supreme Court's decision that allowed abortions.

The Associated Press reported...

"I urge my colleagues to stand with the hundreds of thousands of people out on the Mall right now by voting for this bill," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said.

Democrats said such talk showed that Republicans were willing to subjugate women's rights to political pandering to the crowds outside.

"Women's rights should not be theater, it shouldn't be drama," Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., said.

The debate took a turn for the personal when Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., referred to "hypocrites on the other side of the aisle who have counseled their own girl friends to have abortions. It's legal."

Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., a doctor who opposes abortion rights, once urged a patient he was dating to seek an abortion. His aides did not return phone and email requests for comment.

Outside, thousands of demonstrators trudged up Capitol Hill to the Supreme Court in protest of the justices' legalization of abortion exactly 42 years ago. Some wore religious garb while others carried signs with messages ranging from "I am a voice for the voiceless" to "Thank God my mom's pro-life."

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