D.C. Late-term Abortion Ban Fails in the House

A bill banning late-term abortions in the District of Columbia failed to garner enough support Tuesday, but provided conservative Republicans an opportunity to air their concerns about the procedures just months before Election Day.

House lawmakers voted 220 to 154 to pass the bill, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass the measure under the suspension of normal rules. A bill banning “sex-selection” abortions failed by a similar margin with similar rules in May.

The bill, authored by Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), would prohibit abortions in the District except to protect the life of the mother after 20 weeks of pregnancy, under the theory that fetuses are capable of experiencing pain beyond that point. The medical community is divided on that question.

Just before the vote, Franks said late-term abortions are “the greatest human rights atrocity in the United States today.”

In the District, he noted, “Abortion is completely legal for any reason up until the moment of birth. Under the Constitution, the Congress and the president clearly are responsible for this abortion-until-birth policy.”

But several Democrats blasted the measure as an unconstitutional restriction on women’s rights and the rights of D.C. residents. Though she could not vote on the bill, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) urged her colleagues to defeat the measure. . . .

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