Good news, bad news

[lynn82md.livejournal.com]

First, the Good News :)
Late Wednesday night, Republican Congressional leaders announced that they would be dropping the planned vote for today on the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which, if implemented, would have instilled a nationwide ban on all abortions after week 20 of a pregnancy.

The Washington Post reports that the vote was abandoned largely because of the failure of many Republican women to support the proposed bill — led by Reps. Rene Ellmers (R-N.C.) and Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.), who had raised concerns about public fallout with female and younger voters.

Since it was introduced during the first day of the new Congressional session, the bill has been the source of great controversy and public outcry, including from the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, had explained that the bill was necessary to prevent “defenseless children” from being “torturously killed without even basic anesthetic.” Research has shown, however, that a fetus is not able to sense pain until the beginning of the third trimester, or 28 weeks, at the earliest.

Late-term abortion is typically done only in instances such as the discovery of debilitating conditions in the fetus — many of which would make survival outside of the womb impossible — or when the life of the mother is at risk; in fact 99 percent of abortions are conducted before the 21st week of pregnancy.
Yes!!!

The Bad News :(
This afternoon, on the 42nd anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling which determined that a woman’s choice to have an abortion is guaranteed based on her right to privacy, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 7, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which seeks to end the coverage of abortion services by private insurance companies.

The name of the bill does not precisely reflect its content, as current legislation already prevents taxpayer dollars from being allocated for abortion services; rather the bill seeks to restrict private insurance companies that offer coverage through the new Affordable Care Act Marketplace from presenting plans that would include coverage for abortion services. The law would make it illegal to use tax credits and other subsidies to purchase private insurance for abortion — raising taxes for small businesses and families and taking coverage away from many women. Furthermore, the bill also has almost no exceptions for women whose health is at risk, thus forcing many women to pay out-of-pocket for a potentially life-saving, and expensive, medical expense.

The bill does not allow any exceptions for abortions that may be deemed necessary to protect a woman’s health, even to protect against serious medical conditions.
Well, shit :/

*Heavily editted since I learned about the bill passing after I posted about asking your rep to say no to the H.R 7