Three of the top pro-abortion groups in the country are targeting for defeat pro-life lawmakers who, yesterday, voted for a bill in end the policy of unlimited abortions for any reason in pregnancy in the District of Columbia.
The bill received a supportive vote of 220 to 154 with Republicans voting 203 to 6 for the bill and Democrats voting 148 to 17 against it, but did not meet the two-thirds necessary to pass the House.
Proving they are more concerned with unlimited abortions than protecting women, NOW, NARAL and Planned Parenthood are scoring the vote on the bill and plan campaign efforts to target pro-life members of the House who voted for it.
“Extremists in Congress continued their war on women by pressing for legislation that would criminalize abortions in the nation’s capital after 20 weeks of pregnancy,” NOW President Terry O’Neill said. “NOW and its allies worked around the clock to defeat the bill, and I am gratified that we succeeded. The next step is to replace those who voted for it with candidates who respect women’s fundamental right to make their own reproductive health care decisions.”
“The D.C. 20-week abortion ban is yet another example of House conservatives placing women’s health at risk as they pursue their reckless war on women,” she alleged. “The proposed ban, moreover, was a clear infringement of the District’s right to home rule, and yet another outrageous example of the radical right using D.C.’s lack of statehood as an excuse to set a federal precedent that chips away at Roe v. Wade.”
“Rep. Franks and the 220 representatives who voted for this divisive anti-woman bill have no business interfering with the private decisions a woman makes with her doctor. More importantly, they have no place in the House of Representatives,” she added. “From now to November, NOW activists will be working to defeat those who voted for this appalling bill and replace them with those who support our rights.”
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America and NARAL both said they would inform their members of how lawmakers voted on the 20-week abortion ban, and pro-abortion Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), made that clear in a statement about the bill.
“NARAL and Planned Parenthood have millions of members and supporters throughout the country,” she said. “By announcing they are scoring the vote, there will be no free pass for members of Congress who vote for the bill.”
“Members of Congress can no longer explain to their constituents that they were voting on only a ‘D.C. bill,’ ” Norton added. “These pro-choice groups have put members of Congress on notice that the nation’s women will also be ‘scoring’ the vote.”
Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, said it is pro-abortion members, who voted to continue the policy of abortion for any reason up to the point of birth, who will have to explain their votes.
Johnson said the “groundbreaking majority vote constitutes a giant step towards this bill ultimately becoming law — perhaps after the replacement of some of the lawmakers who today were unwilling to protect pain-capable unborn children in the sixth month of pregnancy and later.”
He added that “154 House members will have to explain to their constituents why they voted to endorse a policy of legal abortion for any reason, until the moment of birth, in their nation’s capital.”
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony List, chimed in after the vote as well.
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“Tonight, 154 members of Congress endorsed an absolutist policy of abortion on-demand, for any reason, up to the moment of birth,” she told LifeNews. “These Representatives are out of step with the majority of Americans who support protecting unborn children capable of feeling excruciating pain of an abortionist’s instruments. Come November, the SBA List will work to ensure that voters know which politicians failed to stand up against this brutality tonight.”
A recent poll commissioned by the National Right to Life Committee found that 63 percent of Americans, and 70 percent of women, support legislation to ban abortions past the point at which unborn children feel pain. The NRLC poll also found that American women, by an overwhelming majority of 62-27 percent, would be more likely to vote for lawmakers who support this bill.
