Recent Event Highlights: H.R. 3803: D.C. 20 week abortion ban, Republicans vote to repeal ACA for the 31st time, No federal funds for abortions or associated administrative costs, House Republicans inject anti-choice politics into the Homeland Security Appropriations , "...the so-called war on the women is a myth...", H.R. 3541, "Prenatal Non-Discrimination Act”, and 52 more...
Created by emilyslist on Jul 26, 2012
Last updated: 08/02/12 at 01:02 PM
House Appropriations Panel backs Montana Republican Denny Rehberg’s Labor/HHS funding bill, which overturns the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate, defunds Planned Parenthood unless the group stops offering abortion except in cases of rape, incest or risk to the mother's life, and eliminates Title X, the federal family-planning program created under President Nixon.
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/appropriations/238345-rehberg-releases-labor-health-bill-with-big-cuts
The Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee advances H.R.3803, which bans abortions after 20 weeks of gestation in the District of Columbia without exceptions for rape, incest or health of the mother. Democratic amendments to allow pregnant women with cancer to undergo life-saving treatment that could be incompatible with the pregnancy and add an exception for when the health of the mother is at risk are voted down.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr3803
Nebraska federal Judge Warren Urbom dismisses a lawsuit filed by seven GOP state attorneys general challenging the Obama administration's contraception mandate, saying because the mandate has not yet taken effect, the plaintiffs can't show that they've been harmed and therefore have no standing to sue.
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/abortion/238515-judge-dismisses-lawsuit-over-contraception-mandate
House Republicans pass H.R. 6079, Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, marking the 31st time Republicans have voted to overturn the historic health care reform law.
http://emilyslist.org/blog/vote-personal-el-candidates-stand-obamacare-womens-health
Tea Party Sen. Rand Paul tries to sneak personhood amendment into federal flood insurance bill.
http://emilyslist.org/blog/debby-downer
The Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee approves Missouri Republican Jo Ann Emerson’s H.R. 6020, which would prohibit the Federal Employees Health Benefits Programs from using federal funds to pay for abortions or associated administrative costs.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr6020
House Republicans inject anti-choice politics into the Homeland Security Appropriations bill H.R 5855, passing the bill with a provision to bar Immigration and Customs Enforcement from providing abortions for illegal immigrant detainees, except in the case of rape incest, or threat to the life of the mother. Officials say the agency has never paid for abortions since its creation in 2003.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/07/homeland-security-bill-passes-house_n_1579710.html
GOP Rep. Mary Bono Mack of California tells Politico, “I believe, right now, the so-called war on the women is a myth [and] purely political posturing.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/77043.html#ixzz21AdlsoyY
GOP Rep. Trent Franks’ “Prenatal Non-Discrimination Act,” H.R. 3541, which imposes criminal penalties on medical professionals who perform so-called “sex selective abortions” – an already illegal practice – fails in the House.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/112-2012/h299
The GOP-controlled House Rules Committee Markup rejects Democrats’ efforts to remove language from H.R. 5855, the Homeland Security spending bill, that would prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from paying for an abortion, except in cases of rape or the life of the mother. The Obama administration objects to the non-germane rider being attached to a spending bill.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/112/saphr5855h_20120606.pdf
GOP Rep. Nan Hayworth’s spokesman, Jay Townsend, posts a bizarre rant against a constituent on his Facebook page: "My question today... when is Tommy boy going to weigh in on all the Lilly Ledbetter hypocrites who claim to be fighting the War on Women? Let’s hurl some acid at those female democratic Senators who won’t abide the mandates they want to impose on the private sector."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/31/jay-townsend-nan-hayworth-acid-war-on-women_n_1560693.html
Alabama Republican Bob Aderholt introduces H.R.5855, the Homeland Security spending bill, with redundant and non-germane language prohibiting U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement from using federal funds to pay for detainees’ abortions, with exceptions for rape, incest or to save the life of the mother; and prohibiting the requirement of any person to perform or facilitate abortion care.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr5855rh/pdf/BILLS-112hr5855rh.pdf
The GOP-controlled House Appropriations Committee panel approves H.R. 5857, the Foreign Aid Spending Bill, underfunding international reproductive health and voluntary family planning, defunding the UNFPA, and codifying the “global gag rule” or Mexico City Policy.
http://www.norton.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3210&Itemid=88
Republican House Subcommittee on the Constitution Chair Trent Franks denies D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s request to testify at a hearing on his bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks in the District of Columbia. Norton instead submits written testimony, noting “This is the second time in the 112th Congress that the majority has focused exclusively on my district while denying my request to testify…Last year, I was denied to speak on H.R. 3, a bill that would permanently prohibit only one jurisdiction, the District of Columbia, from spending its local funds on abortions for low-income women. Today it is H.R. 3803, which would bar the women of only one district, the District of Columbia, from having abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Fortunately, the majority has not yet found a way to completely silence our residents.”
http://www.norton.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3210&Itemid=88
House Republicans pass H.R. 4970, the GOP version of the Violence Against Women Act, which leaves immigrant, Native American, and LGBT survivors inadequately protected.
Speaker John Boehner says of Democratic attempts to include such groups in the legislation, "This is another one of the Democrat gimmicks that goes on around here.”
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/16/politics/gop-violence-against-women/index.html
House Republicans pass H.R. 5652, a “replacement budget package” intended to prevent the automatic January 2013 defense cuts triggered by the so-called “Supercommittee’s” failure in 2011 to agree on a plan to reduce the $1.2 trillion federal budget deficit. The Republicans’ “meat-ax” proposal slashes food stamps, and federal workers’ benefits while endangering Meals on Wheels and other services for needy seniors and families.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/112/saphr5652r_20120509.pdf
House Republicans pass H.R. 5326, the Commerce-Justice-Science
funding bill for 2013, which includes a provision prohibiting the Justice Department from paying for an abortion, except in the case of rape, or to save the life of the mother, and to require any person to perform an abortion. Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler’s motion to increase funds for the Office of Violence Against Women by $20.5 million offset by cuts to the Department of Commerce, Department of Justice, and the Office of Science and Technology was rejected.
www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/112-2012/h249
Montana Republican Denny Rehberg tells a local radio show, “It’s all fabricated, this war on women. I don’t get it.”
Virginia Republican Frank Wolf introduces H.R. 5326, the Commerce-Justice-Science funding bill for 2013, with a provision prohibiting Justice Department funds from going to an abortion, with exceptions for rape and saving the life of the mother.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr5326/text
Florida GOP Rep. Sandy Adams introduces H.R.4970, the Republican version of the Violence Against Women Act, which rolls back existing law and removes long-standing protections for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, leaving in particular immigrant, Native American and LGBT survivors inadequately protected.
John Boehner addresses the House floor, to Republican applause, saying, “Now, we’re going to have a fight over women’s health. Give me a break. This the latest plank in the so-called “war on women,” entirely created by my colleagues across the aisle for political gain.”
http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/press/releases/boehner_war_on_women_entirely_created_by_my_colleagues._give_me_a_break/
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi criticizes proposed GOP cuts to screenings for breast and cervical cancer in order to preserve student loan interest rates in the War on Women; GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann fires back, “It’s pathetic, she wants to continue this fiction that every Democrat messenger’s trying to put forward which is there's a war on women. There is no war on women, there's never been a war on women.”
House Republicans pass Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s Small Business Tax Deduction bill [H.R.9], defeating a Democratic amendment adding exclusions from the tax deduction for prostitution, pornography, drug trafficking, golf courses that discriminate based on sex or race, etc.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/04/cantor_bill.html
House Judiciary Committee panel rejects an amendment offered by Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee to a measure on Medical Malpractice caps (part of the Ryan Budget’s “cost-saving” measures) that excludes from the caps irreversible injury, such as the loss of reproductive health.
http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/Markups%202012/mark_04172012.html
RNC Chair Reince Priebus tells MSNBC about his “war on caterpillars” remarks, "I'm not going to walk back, I'm going to double down on it. This war on women is a fiction the Democrats have created…”
http://thehill.com/video/in-the-news/220993-priebus-im-going-to-double-down-on-war-on-caterpillars-remarks
In response to Bloomberg TV contributor Al Hunt’s query about the Republicans’ War on Women, RNC chair Reince Priebus quips, “If the Democrats said we had a war on caterpillars and every mainstream media outlet talked about the fact that Republicans have a war on caterpillars, then we’d have problems with caterpillars. The fact of the matter is, it’s a fiction.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/74867.html#ixzz21X34LzMO
House Republicans pass the Ryan Budget (H Con Res 112), which includes drastic cuts to food stamps, Medicaid and Medicare.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hconres112eh/pdf/BILLS-112hconres112eh.pdf
The GOP-controlled House Judiciary Committee passes Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehinten’s H.R. 2299, which outlaws the transportation of girls under 18 from one state to another for the purposes of obtaining a safe and legal abortion, a measure NARAL Pro-Choice America says would “endanger the health and safety of young women and threaten caring grandmothers with jail time.”
http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/media/press-releases/2012/pr07092012_dc-ban.html
GOP Rep. Paul Ryan introduces HCR 112, his budget for 2013, which includes language to repeal the Affordable Care Act and allow insurance companies to continue to charge women higher premiums than men, deny coverage to women due to preexisting conditions, and refuse to cover maternity care, slash Medicaid – more than 70% of whose adult beneficiaries are women – by more than 20% and converting it to a block grant, causing over 14 million low-income Americans to lose coverage by 2021; slash funding for child care, Head Start, job training, Pell Grants, housing and energy assistance, food stamps and other assistance to needy families.
http://www.nwlc.org/resource/ryan-budget-fy-13-gutting-vital-programs-women-and-families-giving-trillions-tax-cuts-milli
Texas Rep. -- and Republican Presidential candidate -- Ron Paul introduces H.R. 1096, the so-called “Sanctity of Life Act” which defines human life as existing from conception -- and declares that the word “person” shares said definition.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr1096
House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution holds a hearing on Florida Republican Ileana Ros-Lehinten’s H.R. 2299, which would make it a federal crime for anyone other than a parent to accompany a young woman out of state for abortion care. It also would force doctors to impose a parental-notice requirement on young women from out of state -- under the threat of fines and prison sentences.
http://www.aclu.org/reproductive-freedom/aclu-statement-record-hearing-hr-2299-child-interstate-abortion-notification
Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier speaks out on the floor of the House in defense of Sandra Fluke: “I rise this morning to say to Rush Limbaugh, "Shame on you." Shame on you for being the hatemonger that you are. Shame on you for being misogynistic. Shame on you for calling the women of this country sluts and prostitutes, because that's what he did. Ninety-eight percent of the women in this country, at some time in their lives, use birth control. And yet he went on the air recently and called Sandra Fluke a slut and a prostitute because she was trying to access birth control pills as a third-year law student at Georgetown.”
www.gpo.gov
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh attacks Georgetown college student -- and contraception coverage advocate -- Sandra Fluke on his show: “What does it say about the college co-ed Susan Fluke [sic], who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex, what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She's having so much sex she can't afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex. What does that make us? We're the pimps.”
http://thinkprogress.org/media/2012/02/29/435082/limbaugh-calls-student-denied-spot-at-contraception-hearing-a-slut/
In response to Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s flabbergasted query, “Where are the women?” Illinois Republican Rep. Joe Walsh quips, “This isn’t about women. This isn’t about contraception. This is about religious freedom.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/21/joe-walsh-birth-control-d_n_1288822.html
House Judiciary Committee passes H.R. 3541, GOP Rep. Trent Franks’ bill imposing criminal penalties on anyone who provides an abortion knowing it is being sought based on the sex, gender, color or race of the child, or the race of a parent. Violators could be fined or imprisoned for up to five years.
http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/Markups%202012/mark_02162012.html
Republican House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chair Darrell Issa holds a now-infamous contraception hearing featuring 10 witnesses, eight of whom are men and none of whom favor contraceptive coverage. Issa refuses to admit Democratic witness and Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/16/1065381/-Darrell-Issa-refuses-to-let-woman-speak-at-hearing-on-religious-freedom-to-deny-birth-control
Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, sponsor of the House version of the Blunt amendment, goes on the radio to call the contraceptive coverage mandate in the Affordable Care Act a “bailout for Planned Parenthood,” and calls contraception “unrelated to the basic needs of health care.”
GOP Republican Jeffrey Duncan of South Carolina introduces H.R. 3802, the “National Pro-Life Waiting Period Act of 2012,” which would mandate that abortion providers wait 24 hours after receiving written notification from a pregnant woman before performing an abortion.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr3802ih/pdf/BILLS-112hr3802ih.pdf
House Republicans end 2011 having held more choice-related votes than any other year since 2000.
http://www.blogforchoice.com/assets_c/2012/01/NARAL_infographic_email-blog-thumb-400x497-148-thumb-400x497-149.jpg
House Republicans pass the FY 2012 appropriations package with massive funding cuts to the Title X National Family Planning Program.
House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution holds a hearing on H.R. 3541, a bill authored by GOP Rep. Trent Franks that could subject a doctor to up to five years in prison for failing to determine if race or sex is a factor in a woman’s decision to terminate a pregnancy. The bill would erect new barriers to reproductive-health care for women and perpetuate stereotypes about immigrant communities and communities of color
House Republicans pass H.R. 822, the National Right to Carry Reciprocity Act -- which rolls back gun safety laws by forcing states to allow those with concealed weapon permits from other states to cross state lines with loaded, concealed weapons --after rejecting a Democratic motion to add exclusions for an individual convicted of a sex offense against a minor or with harassment-related restraining orders.
http://cicilline.house.gov/press-release/cicilline-offers-two-amendments-fight-gun-bill-threatens-public-safety
House Republicans pass H.R. 358, the so-called “Protect Life Act,”after rejecting a motion by Democratic Rep. -- and nurse -- Lois Capps to fix a provision allowing hospitals to refuse emergency abortion care, even when a woman’s life is in danger.
GOP Rep. Virginia Foxx delivers a confusing diatribe -- perhaps most confusing for Speaker John Boehner -- on the House floor, saying “For my colleagues across the aisle who say that this is a misogynist bill, nobody has ever fought more for the rights of women than I have. Fifty percent of the unborn babies that are being aborted are females. So the misogyny comes from those that promote the killing of unborn babies. That's where the misogyny comes in, Madame Speaker.”
http://jezebel.com/5849839/house-passes-let-women-die-bill-after-extremely-depressing-debate
Republican House Speaker John Boehner proposes a budget which would eliminate funding for birth control and cancer screenings, defund Planned Parenthood, redirect funds for science-based teen-pregnancy-prevention initiatives into “abstinence-only” programs, and revive the infamous Stupak abortion-coverage ban, which would effectively ban coverage of abortion in the new health-care system. (Currently, 87 percent of private plans currently include abortion coverage).
http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/media/press-releases/2011/pr09292011_boehner-budget.html
Florida Tea Party Rep. Cliff Stearns launches what Democrat Reps. Howard Berman and Diana DeGette call a “sweeping and invasive” investigation into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its 83 affiliates
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/planned-parenthood-rep-stearns-politically-motivated-investigation-latest-attempt-undermine-hea-37956.htm
Republicans in the House Foreign Affairs Committee endorse as part of foreign aid legislation (H.R. 2583) the reinstatement of the “global gag rule,” or Mexico City Policy – overturned in the early days of the Obama presidency –which prohibits federal funds to international family planning groups that use their own funds to offer abortion information or care. Democratic Rep. Howard Berman argues the provision also prevents any financial assistance for programs including HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and testing, child survival, education, water and sanitation; still his amendment to remove the gag rule from the foreign aid bill is defeated.
http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/News2?abbr=daily2_&page=NewsArticle&id=29614
After Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz addresses the House floor about the Tea Party’s support of legislation that would increase costs for Medicare beneficiaries, many of whom live in Florida, fellow Floridian Republican Allen West fires off a vitriolic email, copied to House Democratic and Republican leadership, saying “Look, Debbie…You are the most vile, unprofessional ,and despicable member of the US House of Representatives…You have proven repeatedly that you are not a Lady, therefore, shall not be afforded due respect from me!”
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0711/Allen_West_tirade_WassermanSchultz_viledespicablenot_a_Lady.html
House Republicans pass GOP Rep. Steve King’s surprise amendment to the 2012 Agriculture spending bill prohibiting the use of funds for mifepristone (RU 486) before passing the overall bill, which also slashes nutrition programs for an estimated 475,000 pregnant women, nursing mothers, and infants.
Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx’s amendment to medical training legislation, H.R.1216 -- a bill which in itself weakens the Affordable Care Act’s provisions regarding medical training -- banning funds for abortion care training is reported to the House.
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/planned-parenthood-opposes-rep-foxx-amendment-restricting-health-care-entities-ability-train-me-36988.htm
During consideration of H.R. 1540, the 2012 Defense budget, anti-choice GOP lawmakers in the House Rules Committee refuse to allow a vote lifting a ban on abortion care for servicewomen who are survivors of rape and incest.
And on the House floor, Republicans pass an amendment sponsored by GOP Rep. Virginia Foxx to prohibit federal funds from being used by teaching health centers for training in abortion care. NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan calls Foxx's amendment an unprecedented restriction on medical training. "Regardless of how one feels about legal abortion, reasonable lawmakers can agree that doctors should be as well-trained as possible to deal with any medical situation that may arise."
http://emilyslist.org/take-action/tell-house-republicans-stop-disrespecting-military-servicewomen
House Republicans pass H.R. 3, the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” which goes beyond the Hyde Amendment to effectively prevent individuals from obtaining abortions with their own, private funds and codifies numerous abortion bans, including the D.C. ban. Perhaps most appallingly, the bill also could spur the IRS to audit sexual-assault survivors who seek abortion care.
http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/government-and-you/us-government/congressional-record-on-choice/2011/votes-2011.html#house4
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