E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSHouse Republicans are holding a hearing, led by Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), pushing a bill that would limit abortion rights in DC. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton was denied her request to testify. It is a generally accepted courtesy that if a member of Congress wants to testify at a hearing they are granted that. The committee is “considering legislation that would ban abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy in the District,” First Read DMV writes.
The Washington Post: “Rep. Trent Franks’ (R-Ariz.) bill, the District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, would prohibit all D.C. abortions beyond 20 weeks except to save the life of the mother, based on the much-debated idea that fetuses beyond that point are capable of feeling pain. The measure will be the subject of a 4 p.m. hearing before the House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution, which Franks chairs.”
More: “D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray (D) also gave his take, sarcastically suggesting that if Franks ‘feels this strongly’ about how the District runs itself, ‘I would invite him to become a candidate for D.C. Council.’”
And: “Traditionally, the minority party in the House is allowed to invite the testimony of one witness. For this hearing, Democrats have tapped Christy Zink, a D.C. resident who has spoken publicly before of having an abortion at 21 weeks after tests showed her fetus had life-threatening brain anomalies. Republicans have asked three doctors to testify. A Republican Judiciary Committee aide who requested anonymity to discuss the decision said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), the subcommittee’s top Democrats, ‘has complete discretion as to whom the Democrats’ witness is. Nadler chose a D.C. resident, Christy Zink. Nadler could have invited Ms. Norton, but he didn’t.’ But members of Congress are usually allowed to testify at a hearing, separate from any witness quota, if a bill specifically impacts their districts.”
Politico: “Republicans aren't repeating the mistake they made earlier this year, when a male-heavy panel during a hearing on contraception prompted Norton and other Democrats to walk out in protest. Christy Zink, a George Washington University professor who was forced to have an abortion late in her pregnancy due to complications, will testify.”
DCist: “On yesterday's Rachel Maddow Show, Norton called Franks' bill a ‘straight-out cowardly case of bullying’ and said that ‘abundant precedent’ existed for allowing members of Congress to speak during committee hearings—even if they're not a member of that committee.”
Leave a Comment:
But, hey, there's no GOPTP war on women. Apparently Trent Franks is just too much of a coward to try passing his anti-abortion legislation for the entire country so he goes after the city of D.C. who has a representative but no voting rights. What a jerkwad.
didn't we fight against taxation without representation some years ago?
So much for the "Smaller Government" the GNOP wants! Oh - that;s right they are "Protecting" women
do away with the district of columbia. remave all building, convert the land to parks and wildlife. and return it to the capitol property and federal lands... then the GOP can drill oil and gas wells ....OK for real unemploy all members of congress look at their pay, benefits, and perks have they been cut no.no.no.
Curious disconnect between the NRC and the local Teapublicans. The RNC wants to campaign on the issue of the economy. The Teapublicans are unwavering in their commitment to taking the country back to the 1950's when only the affluent or well connected had access to legal abortion.
We get legislative proposals from the TEApublicans defining "human status" ranging from Genesis 38 admonishing against spilling one's seed on the round, on to conception (personhood) to various milestones trying to legally define a person based on the nervous system development or viability of a fetus. All for the purpose of restricting access or eliminating legal abortion.
Seems to be a strategy disconnect.