House Panel Votes to Continue Ban on Funding for Abortions in D.C.

In Washington, D.C. this week, the Republican controlled House panel approved the 2013 Financial Services plan for the District which included funding for city courts and the extension and expansion of the private school voucher plan, the D.C Opportunity Scholarship Program. The bill didn't pass easily because of a controversial abortion provision that House Republicans refused to let through.

Included in the bill was a provision that would have used local revenue to help fund abortions for low income women. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) introduced an amendment that would have removed the abortion ban, but House Republicans refused to budge. The abortion restriction had been in place for nearly a decade before it was removed in 2010 while Democrats still had the majority in the House. When Republicans were sworn in and took back the House majority in 2011, the ban was quickly put back in place, putting pressure on low income women who can't afford an abortion. Rep. Lee voiced her reasoning for the bill on the House floor.

“No other city is told how to spend its locally raised revenue, so why should we force the District?”

Chairman of the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo), made it clear that any bill involving the funding of abortions wouldn't pass.

“If we want the financial services bill to move forward…and if you want D.C. to be able to spend its local funds on everything else beside abortion, we have to allow it to move forward.”

The issue over abortion in the United States is at a peak with both sides defending their argument. Earlier this month, the Michigan House Committee passed a three part abortion bill that would ban abortion, even in cases of rape, incest and fetal defect. Other provisions made it mandatory for an abortion center to become a licensed surgical facility and would prohibit doctors from prescribing an abortion pill while consulting them on an internet camera. The Michigan House passed the ban on doctors providing prescriptions, but has yet to vote on the other parts of the bill, including the exceptions of rape, incest or fetal defect

While Michigan's anti abortion law is considered the harshest in the nation, anti abortion and anti choice rhetoric is occurring around the country. At an Oklahoma public school this past May, students were forced to watch a DVD presentation comparing an abortion to the actions of Hitler during the Holocaust. Anti abortion activists are very aggressive in their presentation and it's reflecting in local and state governments. Whether it's in Michigan, Washington, D.C. or at the federal level, the battle over abortion is a very personal one and it doesn't look like it's going away any time soon.

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http://www.examiner.com/article/house-panel-votes-to-continu e-ban-on-funding-for-abortions-d-c

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