While so much attention has been paid to the death of Osama Bin Laden, yet another Republican House majority attack on civil liberties has moved forward under a new guise. Introduced in the House back in January and renamed H.R.3 to symbolize its importance, the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” made its way through committees to the House floor on Wednesday. Not surprisingly, it passed. Essentially, the bill codifies what has already been practice, which is to bar federal employees, members of the military and those who receive federal assistance from using taxpayer money to pay for abortions, with few exceptions.
It is an end sweep of the 14th Amendment as well as Roe v Wade, and it re-regulates women’s reproductive rights in the process.
A top priority of Republican leaders, specifically co-sponsors John Boehner and Eric Cantor, under the language of H.R. 3, rape becomes "forcible rape." Presumably that modifier distinguishes it from other kinds of sexual assault that are typically recognized as rape, such as statutory rape and attacks that occur because of drugs or verbal threats.
"We want to live up to our commitment to make sure that there is no government funding of abortion," said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. "And the provisions . . . have some connect with a government's support and funding of abortion."
The bill effectively eliminates tax incentives on employer-provided health care benefits if those benefits cover abortion as a medical procedure. Cantor’s contention is that those incentives essentially constitute federal spending on abortion.
Sponsored by Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey and House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, the legislation also enacts strict procedural requirements for private insurance companies that cover abortions and deny tax credits to small businesses that purchase health insurance plans offering abortion coverage. Eighty-seven percent of private insurance plans currently include such coverage.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Dr Dreadful
President Obama will veto H.R. 3 if and when it lands on his desk, and the House Republicans know this perfectly well, so the bill is just a bit of posturing.
It does serve as a window onto a few souls, though.
2 - Cannonshop
I don't understand how not spending public money on elective surgeries is an attack on anyone's rights.
3 - zingzing
did you read the phrase "forcible rape" cannonshop?
4 - Baronius
Cannon - Whose money is yours, the government's or yours? The government's, of course.
5 - Andy Marsh
I think that whoever it was that said that no woman plans to have an abortion is full of it...but I also think that this is just more govt overreach.
The govt should NOT be paying for anyones abortion...let the asshole that caused the pregnancy pay for it...but then there are those ladies that just can't be sure who the father is....
There are entirely too many deadbeat dads in this world and apparently there are an awful lot of deadbeat manwhores too that won't pay for the damage they cause! But why should they, liberals are willing to pick up the tab for them!!!
6 - handyguy
Rich people can pay for their own abortions, and poor people cannot. Even the most ardent Naral member doesn't think abortions are wonderful, happy events. But that economic dichotomy is a real social issue, and we shouldn't just be in denial about it.
7 - zingzing
"I think that whoever it was that said that no woman plans to have an abortion is full of it..."
care to explain her thought process? how is this plan formulated and carried out?
8 - Andy Marsh
According to this website an abortion costs between $300 and $550.
And a condom costs a lot less!
9 - Andy Marsh
Honestly, no, I don't care to explain the thought processes of an irresponsible person! Who the fuck can explain the thought processes of someone irresponsible enough to get knocked up in the first place?
It felt good, so I did it, fuck it! How's that?
10 - Tommy Mack
Immature.
Tommy
11 - Irene Athena
I hesitate to cite this, because using it to prove that abortion is generally something people write into their plans is rather like using homosexual (retired) Senator Larry Craig's socially conservative voting record to prove that socially conservative people in general are engaged in hypocritical homosexual trysts. Who doesn't know that politicians compromise "deeply held beliefs" all the time?
But here goes:
Sacred Abortion, published in A Journal of Women's Mysteries-The Beltane Papers, Issue 18, p. 11-13. "Perhaps by including abortion in the circle of our spirituality-by embracing it as a rite of passage as important and intrinsically meaningful as other more socially acceptable rites-we can stop the deadening cycle of self-punishment and guilt….many of us who read this magazine seem ready to embrace the sexual aspects of the Goddess, while remaining resistant to her destructive side..."
12 - Irene Athena
Now that I did post it, I find that I don't have any regrets.
13 - Irene Athena
There are people alive today who were conceived by forcible rape.
I'm not saying that I don't care whether or not the raped woman's life was ruined by bearing a child conceived under such awful circumstances. I know for a fact, though, that the life of any child she aborts will be ruined in 100% of the cases.
Well, no make that 99.9% of the cases since we're discussing extreme cases right now: Gianna Jenssen. Aborted babies are born alive. What would you (generic you) suggest be done with them?
14 - Irene Athena
U.K. doctors, who see live aborted babies often enough to have seen the need to address the issue. I don't know the latest news about they have done to avoid this inconvenient in-their-face reminder of what they've just done: an infant screaming for its life.
PS: I'm sorry for calling you a "Capitalless ---" yesterday ZingZing. I didn't mean to offend you. It sounded like an expression that rhymed with Capitalist Pig."
Well, I'm afraid I'm going to have to miss the pile-on. Enjoy yourselves.
15 - El Bicho
"I think that whoever it was that said that no woman plans to have an abortion is full of it."
If that because you have some proof, please share it
16 - El Bicho
"I know for a fact, though, that the life of any child she aborts will be ruined in 100% of the cases."
How so? Don't you believe the child will go to Heaven?
17 - Irene Athena
LOL
18 - Clavos
...but then there are those ladies that just can't be sure who the father is...
Those are females, not ladies.
19 - zingzing
andy: "It felt good, so I did it, fuck it! How's that?"
that doesn't sound like a plan for an abortion. they don't feel good, as far as i know... it does sound like a plan to have sex (and condoms aren't 100% effective, as i'm sure you know).
so, to answer your "how's that" question, it's a poor answer. you can try again to describe a woman planning to have an abortion. until then, you sound like you're the one who's full of it, and you also sound just a bit misogynistic, which i'm sure is not how you wish to come across.
20 - Irene Athena
Dang, what's #11, chopped liver? Invisible? So creepy that people have to look away and pretend they didn't see it?
21 - zingzing
it's new age claptrap, irene. religion-inspired abortion. yip.
22 - Irene Athena
It's also proof that you were wr---, say it. ZingZing.
23 - Irene Athena
"Legalizing pot, heroine, prostitution, if states decide they want it: Why should social conservatives in South Carolina vote for you, Ron Paul? *laughter*"
I hope they ask him about abortion. You should tune in.
24 - Glenn Contrarian
For those who think abortion is always, always evil:
I've been a Foster parent of medically-fragile kids for over eleven years now. One of them who is still with me had fetal drug syndrome, and another - since passed away - had fetal alcohol syndrome.
The syndromes are largely similar - both boys (among other things) breathe through trach tubes, are fed through g-tubes, and require sixteen hours of taxpayer-funded nursing care every single day.
I added up the cost of their care back in 2004, and with the daily nursing care, the medications, and the doctor visits, it came to over a quarter-million dollars per year per child for the entirety of their lives. This amount does NOT include the cost of the one-on-one nurses and aides (and dedicated school room and teachers) required every school day, and this would probably add up to a hundred thousand more per year. All paid for by the taxpayers...
...and there are THOUSANDS of these kids born every year.
So whenever I see abortion protesters on the street corners, I want so badly to show them my Foster child and ask why they aren't standing in front of bars and drug dens trying to prevent the tragic - and hideously expensive - situations such as that which my Foster child faces. But I can't - to so involve my Foster child is 'unethical'.
So while y'all bicker and dicker about abortion, remember that just like all else in this world, there is a time that it is necessary.
25 - zingzing
"It's also proof that you were wr---, say it. ZingZing."
fine. there may be (although as "proof" that anyone has actually done this, that's lacking,) some crazed nutcases who plan to have an abortion to please the goddess. there may be some other crazed nutcases who plan to have an abortion for some other sick, twisted reasons.
but that's not what andy was talking about.
but i was wrong. so very wrong. i'm going to start planning to kill a cat and dress it up like a miami dolphins cheerleader now.