NEW YORK, New York — House GOP leaders yanked a controversial antiabortion bill from consideration late Wednesday night, a move sure to enrage antiabortion activists, who will descend on Capitol Hill Thursday for their annual March for Life.
According to the National Journal: The bill will be replaced by the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, a bipartisan bill that passed the House last year and will get another vote on Thursday, the 42nd anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision.
The change came after House Republican women and moderates battled against their leaders on the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, exhibiting the deepening rift between centrists and conservatives who are at cross-purposes on which issues the party should be highlighting.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Republican leaders were insistent they would move ahead with legislation banning abortions after 20 weeks, but the Rules Committee announced an emergency meeting Wednesday night and sources said the bill would be pulled in favor of the less controversial alternative.
Some Republicans worried that the 20-week abortion measure might alienate millennials and female voters. But many female lawmakers were also furious over its clause stating that women can be exempt from the ban in cases of rape only if they reported the rape to authorities.
[FEATURED PHOTO of a baby born at 23 weeks of pregnancy.]
