Return of the Pro-Lifers

Once again, the far right is out to restrict abortion rights.

When Republicans attempted to change the definition of rape to exclude abortions resulting from statutory cases from being covered by Medicaid in the anti-abortion bill put forward in January by Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ), opposition to the provision forced the Republicans to retract the language from the bill. But that wasn't the end of it.

This past Wednesday the Republicans in the House passed the so-called No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act (H.R. 3) with an underhanded trick that allows Congress to "redefine rape," as the original language meant to. No one noticed, though, because everyone was paying attention to the bin Laden story.

The poison pill in this maneuver is a committee report that accompanies the legislation. It spells out the intention of the legislation to restrict the definition of rape to forcible rape - and thus restrict abortions. Although the Hyde amendment, part of an abortion law and named for the late pro-life Representative Henry Hyde (R-IL), already does prohibit taxpayer funding for abortions, it has made exceptions for rape since 1993. Mother Jones magazine explains how this report would work:

"The backdoor reintroduction of the statutory rape change relies on the use of a committee report, a document that congressional committees produce outlining what they intend a piece of legislation to do. If there's ever a court fight about the interpretation of a law — and when it comes to a subject as contentious as abortion rights, there almost always is — judges will look to the committee report as evidence of congressional intent, and use it to decide what the law actually means.

"In this case, the committee report for H.R. 3 says that the bill will 'not allow the Federal Government to subsidize abortions in cases of statutory rape.' The bill itself doesn't say anything like that, but if a court decides that legislators intended to exclude statutory rape-related abortions from eligibility for Medicaid funding, then that will be the effect."

What the bill clearly means is that it would deny tax credits to companies that offer health insurance plans that include abortion funding and would deny anyone with such a plan from receiving federal tax deductions, among other nasty things that actually are in the legislation.

The Republicans seem to be moved by a sincere belief that abortion is an absolute moral wrong and that it must be curtailed as much as possible. Well, what's so bad about that? Quite a few things, starting with the fact that it interferes with the personal choices women make with regard to their own health and bodies. It also forces personal beliefs on others through the government. Plus, most of the male politicians passing judgment on female reproductive rights are not doctors.

This bill is going nowhere. Even if the Democratic Senate were to pass it, President Obama would certainly veto it. But it could become law in 2013 if the Republicans hold the House and win control of the Senate in 2012 - they have a pretty good chance of doing both - and if there's a Republican president in 2013 or if Republicans and pro-life Democrats have enough votes to override an Obama veto.

Oh yeah, the only House Republicans who did not vote for this bill were those who abstained. My congressman - Republican Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey - voted for it. Given his past support for Planned Parenthood and reproductive rights in general, his vote is nothing short of shocking.

The right-wing era of American politics, far from having ended with Obama's election, has only begun . . ..