Abortion Funding Showdown Escalates

CBS/Getty

As anti-abortion rights activists and lawmakers escalate their attacks on groups like Planned Parenthood, Democrats and pro-abortion rights groups are digging in their heels with new messaging and grassroots mobilization.

Democratic lawmakers held press conferences today decrying a set of anti-abortion bills in Congress as an "attack on women's health," as Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) put it. Meanwhile, protesters against the legislation, wearing red tape over their mouths, were escorted by police out of a congressional hearing room today for silently interrupting a panel discussion on the issue. As they walked out, Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) said the current debate is about whether it is the federal government's role "to fund a practice that continues to take the lives of over 1 million little Americans every year."

Franks was leading the House Judiciary Committee hearing today on one of the two bills intended to scale back federal funding for abortion services -- Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.)'s "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act." The legislation would impose a permanent bar on any federal spending for abortion care, including tax credits for plans that cover abortion.

Tomorrow, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Penn.)'s "Protect Life Act," which would restrict federal funding of any kind for abortions in any of the programs enacted in President Obama's health care reforms.

When Republicans introduced these bills last month, Democrats immediately pounced on the new House majority for putting aside the issue of jobs creation in favor of reviving the abortion debate.

"I do not understand how this Republican Congress can move from that mandate to create jobs, to create opportunity in this country, towards how do we undermine women's reproductive health," Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said today.

The abortion bills are unlikely to pass -- or even come up for a vote -- in the Democratic-led Senate, and President Obama would almost certainly veto them if they did pass. Yet as House Republicans continue to press the issue and and build off the momentum of conservative activists, the debate over abortion funding has escalated.

On Monday, Planned Parenthood, a group with a political action committee as well as a network of health clinics (which provide abortion services), announced that it is retraining its staff members nationwide in the wake of a "sting operaton" of sorts in which an anti-abortion rights group secretly recorded staff members at 12 Planned Parenthood health centers. The videos show a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute receiving abortion and contraceptive counseling for underage sex workers at several Virginia clinics and one New Jersey clinic.

The controversy comes as Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) is pushing a bill to cut the more than $75 million in federal funding Planned Parenthood affiliates receive to provide family planning to low-income people.

"As a father of two teenage daughters I see the video that came out this morning and last week, and it's an outrage to me that employees of Planned Parenthood clinics across the country are facilitating the abuse of minor girls in this country," Pence said on the House floor today.

The political action committee of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), chair of the House Tea Party caucus and a rising national figure in the Republican party, sent a fundraising e-mail to its supporters this week, targeting Planned Parenthood. In the e-mail, Bachmann lamented the "Fifty three million lives have been snuffed out at abortion clinics around our nation since 1973," the year of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, and she promised her PAC would support politicians "who agree that abortion is a crime and must be stopped immediately."

Planned Parenthood is striking back against the Republican assault, mounting a new round of grassroots activism to raise opposition to the two anti-abortion funding bills. The group is organizing nationwide phone banking and e-mail campaigns, in-district visits to congressional offices and circulating a "Stand with Planned Parenthood"petition.

Meanwhile, the progressive website LeftAction.com has started a petition targeting a specific provision in Pitts' bill that would allow hospitals to refuse to perform an abortion on a woman, even if her life is at risk.

Liberals last week successfully squelched another controversial provision of Smith's bill, which would have limited exemptions from the legislation to cases of "forcible" rape -- excluding other kinds of rape. ADD LINE ON WHAT IS

Nevertheless, anti-abortion rights activists and lawmakers have said they think the momentum on the issue is on their side.

Watch CBS News Senior Political Producer Rob Hendin speak with CBSNews.com's Stephanie Condon and Roll Call's Christina Bellantoni discuss the debate on Washington Unplugged:

[tsigili]

The GOP position on this issue, simply demonstrates how religion blinds people to reality.

Their position is entirely religion based, and we have all seen how well it works out to have religion in charge of government......in Iran!

[thinking-voter]

Sorry George but it is based on religion.

The law clearly states that human rights begin AT BIRTH, not at conception. Therefore unborn cannot trump the rights of the born. This is why partial birth abortions became rightfully illegal.

Without birth, a fetus still a part of the woman's body, period. It doesn't matter if a fetus is viable at x number of weeks; becoming a being with rights requires birth.

[olebasiclady]

by AttentionDeficit February 9, 2011 10:13 AM EST
Heck, I agree with you**, but we foot the bill for people not being responsible all the time. Do you want to eliminate funding health care for those who smoke, drink, eat too much garbage food, sit on their fat arses?
** on not paying for abortions for irresponsible people.
++++++++++++++++++++++

THESE VERY GOOD POINTS by AttentionDeficit is why the Federal Government should STAY OUT OF HEALTHCARE LEGISLATION ENTIRELY.

If you can't legislate ALL the PEOPLE, ALL the TIME, with a simple legislation, then the Federal Government has no business legislating at all.

The Federal Government should legislate BUSINESS HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS on basic rules of conduct, NOT LEGISLATE PEOPLE ON HEALTHCARE Nor provide ANY KIND of HEALTHCARE FOR ANYONE!

[jimbom121]

umm, the Federal Government is not providing healthcare to anyone...and they are legistating business healthcare providers...that is what the HC law was all about.

[olebasiclady]

Why can't people understand that two DIFFERENT issues are being discussed here.

(1) FIRST ISSUE: The right to have an abortion. This right is NOT being questioned. Go have your abortion. I wouldn't except in rape circumstances and medical threat to life circumstances, but I'm not judging you.

(2) SECOND ISSUE: The right to have your abortion paid for by taxpayers dollars. This issue is the issue being discussed by conservatives. They want to assure that taxpayer dollars DO NOT provide free abortions for women (except in rape circumstances and medical threat to life circumstances).

I totally agree with conservatives on the second issue. Abortion should NOT be paid for at taxpayer's expense.

[jc429j3]

It's funny that the same people who claim to want less government...who blasted the First Lady for wanting healthy food in our schools and homes,because they claimed it was too much government overreach...have no problem with the government telling females what we can or can not do with our bodies. Hypocrites!!!

[jc429j3]

Emp. George.....you have obviously never carried a child....it is your body.......this is just another way for the Republicans to get around making abortions illegal. I am sure if men were the ones carrying the pregnancies, this would be a non issue. And no I have never had an abortion...and don't plan on it.....Again my argument is that why claim government overreach when it comes to healthy foods in school....but it's ok for the government to control what is a woman's choice.... And Emp.George....I make lots of money....so you are not funding anything for me, it is probably me paying for you!

[jimbom121]

This is just another example of the GOP's version of big government. Don't believe me...just look at the Terri Schiavo case. Nothing has changed. Less government for big business, more for personal choice and privacy.

[msimamaji]

In 2006, the legislature of South Dakota passed one of the most stringent anti-abortion laws in the country. Yet Republican state Senators Bill Napoli granted an exemption to this law for a Christian teenager who had been "saving" her virginity for marriage and who had become impregnated through a brutal rape"

Apparently not all fetuses are conceived equally. It's OK to kill a fetus if the mother is a virgin Christian, but it's murder to kill a fetus if the mother is not. Does that make sense?

In any rate, who makes the decision, a judge, a panel of evangelical Christians, or a Republican politician, like Bill Napoli? And if a woman gets an exemption for being a Christian, then maybe she could get an exemption for a nice campaign contribution.

The GOP's attempts to redefine rape and restrict abortion simply opens the door to all sorts of mischief and bribery. The GOP is opposed to business regulation. If an oil or coal company wants to poison the local water supply, that's OK. But an abortion? That's another matter. Perhaps we need to switch things around. Perhaps we should not let churches, bureaucrats, and politicians get in the way of a private decision made by a woman and her physician.

[msimamaji]

First of all, the GOP wants to redefine rape, which means that a 14 year old whose been raped by her mother's live-in boyfriend, has to go through all sorts of trauma to prove that she's been abused. Then if she gets pregnant, she might be thrown out into the streets by her mother.
Wowee - this is really humane, isn't it?
The GOP's posturing will not eliminate abortion. Wealthy women can always get safe abortions in another country, like Canada. Poor women will resort to back alley abortion clinics. Many of them will die.
The Communist government of Romania banned abortion. It did not work. The GOP is really on the same page as the Communists.

[cbstest]

Exactly, and where will a low-income or poor family get the money that would require an attorney to defend them? Not likely. Their laws have always been around entrapment for the less fortunate Americans, but their supporters calls it civilized legislation.

[olebasiclady]

Any adult woman who has been raped should go to the emergency room and report it, and have a rape kit done.

If you don't report a rape, and there is no record of a rape, how do you know that a rape has occurred.

For the underaged child, sexually activity with an adult male that could result in pregnancy is called statutory rape, and should be considered rape in the event of a pregnancy.

The problems herein lies with underage males and female activity in which the female becomes pregnant, and the uncertainty of who the father is in an underage female pregnancy case.

LOTS of room for discussion and working out problems.

[cbstest]

Sounds like another "BIG GOVERNMENT MANDATE" for the which the GOP and PeaParty greatly oppose for healthcare reform. Isn't this just great? They repeal healthcare, but make laws to force women to have children who will need prenatal care, hospital care, and clinic visits.

[jimbom121]

They only oppose big government when it suits their needs...remember Terri Schiavo.

[olebasiclady]

Paying for abortion is NOT healthcare! A pregnant woman IS NOT a "sick" woman. The pregnancy requires healthcare, yes, in order for the fetus and the woman to stay healthy, but an abortion IS NOT needed in order for the woman to stay healthy (in most cases, and in all the discussed cases. No one is refusing to pay for medical abortions or rape case abortions). Therefore, and abortion IS NOT healthcare!

[euge005]

Great, the clowns are in power less then 2 months and the jobs first agenda is forgotten. Time to return to the old government regulation over reproductive rights agenda that the far right has whined about for decades. So much for the tea party, jobs, having a future, just as long as they can control how many children you must have. The way to hold power, keep em dumb, bare foot and pregnate. Very conservative I must say.

[1renegade]

With the exception of rape, incest, or life threatening condition why would a woman want an abortion?? I don't feel taxpayers should foot the bill for people not being responsible.