{"id":27703,"date":"2015-01-26T08:32:28","date_gmt":"2015-01-26T15:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/?p=27703"},"modified":"2015-01-26T10:07:38","modified_gmt":"2015-01-26T17:07:38","slug":"house-scraps-bill-banning-abortions-after-20-weeks-of-pregnancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/01\/house-scraps-bill-banning-abortions-after-20-weeks-of-pregnancy\/","title":{"rendered":"Cowardly Congress Scraps Abortion Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Photo<\/a>
Photo Source: Flickr Creative Commons, by Gage Skidmore https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/gageskidmore\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The United States House of Representatives\u2019 leadership has made the decision to scrap<\/a> a bill that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. They went for a bill banning the use of government monies<\/a> to pay for abortions, instead.<\/p>\n

The reason? Evidently, a number of GOP<\/a> congresswomen objected to the bill<\/a> based on the fact that it did not allow sufficient exception for rape victims.<\/p>\n

I have a couple of points here.<\/p>\n

First, why not amend the bill to allow this exception? I know that there are pro life purists who refuse to amend legislation in this manner, but I\u2019m not one of them. The bill would save lives, even with such an amendment. I know from dealing with these things as a legislator that politics is always the art of the possible. If that\u2019s what it takes to pass a 20-week ban on abortion, then do it.<\/p>\n

Second, even though I have dealt with upset legislators on these issues and know very well that reasoning does not work, I want to make the point for the record and for public discussion, that 20 weeks and later in a pregnancy is too late to be having an abortion, period.<\/p>\n

At this point, it is more dangerous and far more traumatic for the woman to have an abortion<\/a> than it would be to simply deliver the baby and try to save it. There is a good chance that these babies would live<\/a>, if they were properly cared for.<\/p>\n

Second, rape victims have had months to decide to abort. Even if you accept the idea that a woman should be able to abort a baby because it was conceived in rape, there is no reason why any rape victim needs five months to make up her mind about the question. Abortions after 20 weeks are needless killings. There is no reason to abort any child that far into pregnancy.<\/p>\n

If the mother\u2019s health is in danger, just deliver the baby and try to save it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s entirely possible that the House will re-think its decision about this legislation. They are going to get a lot of fire from their own base<\/a> over it. It\u2019s very, very possible that the heat<\/a> will force them to back down and move forward with the bill.<\/p>\n

If they do, and if the bill gets to the President, he has already promised that he will veto it. That will make the whole issue one big fat vote getting, money raising issue for both parties.<\/p>\n

It will be a win-win-win-win for everybody.<\/p>\n

Except the babies.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States House of Representatives\u2019 leadership has made the decision to scrap a bill that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. They went for a bill banning the use of government monies to pay for abortions, instead. The reason? Evidently, a number of GOP congresswomen objected to the bill based on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1155,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7041,33,6126,41,48,1,50,46],"tags":[7121,1890,7123,7122],"class_list":["post-27703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abortion-2","category-america","category-corporatism-2","category-politics","category-pro-life","category-uncategorized","category-violence-against-women","category-feminism","tag-20-week-abortion-ban","tag-boehner","tag-gop-leadership","tag-republican-leadership"],"yoast_head":"\nCowardly Congress Scraps Abortion Bill<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The United States House of Representatives' leadership has made the decision to scrap a bill that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/01\/house-scraps-bill-banning-abortions-after-20-weeks-of-pregnancy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cowardly Congress Scraps Abortion Bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The United States House of Representatives' leadership has made the decision to scrap a bill that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/01\/house-scraps-bill-banning-abortions-after-20-weeks-of-pregnancy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Public Catholic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-01-26T15:32:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-01-26T17:07:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/files\/2015\/01\/boehner.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rebecca Hamilton\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rebecca Hamilton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/01\/house-scraps-bill-banning-abortions-after-20-weeks-of-pregnancy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/01\/house-scraps-bill-banning-abortions-after-20-weeks-of-pregnancy\/\",\"name\":\"Cowardly Congress Scraps Abortion Bill\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-26T15:32:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-01-26T17:07:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/e8d2778109308e0e776e5c16eae7b67d\"},\"description\":\"The United States House of Representatives' leadership has made the decision to scrap a bill that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/01\/house-scraps-bill-banning-abortions-after-20-weeks-of-pregnancy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/01\/house-scraps-bill-banning-abortions-after-20-weeks-of-pregnancy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/01\/house-scraps-bill-banning-abortions-after-20-weeks-of-pregnancy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cowardly Congress Scraps Abortion Bill\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/\",\"name\":\"Public Catholic\",\"description\":\"Catholic in the Public Square\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/e8d2778109308e0e776e5c16eae7b67d\",\"name\":\"Rebecca Hamilton\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6253ced313d53e0b7bfa51e5c9eb56d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6253ced313d53e0b7bfa51e5c9eb56d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rebecca Hamilton\"},\"description\":\"During her tenure in the Oklahoma Legislature, Rep. Hamilton has been an advocate for human rights, believing that government must support and defend the sanctity of all human lives, from conception to natural death. Representative Hamilton: Authored the original Victim\u2019s Protective Order to protect battered women, Obtained funding for the first statewide program for adult day care and the first statewide program of domestic violence shelters, and she She has also passed legislation to prevent law enforcement officials from publicly posting the private information of rape victims, Rep. Hamilton authored a 2005 law hailed as the most significant piece of pro-life legislation in Oklahoma in 30 years. She also passed the bill outlawing elective abortions in state-funded hospitals She has passed pro life bills requiring informed consent, parental notification, and limiting forced abortions. She also passed a law allowing prosecutors to file criminal charges against anyone who intentionally causes the death of an unborn child by harming the mother. Rep. Hamilton has also authored legislation ensuring taxpayers are not forced to subsidize elective abortions Rep. Hamilton was one of six original co-founders of first rape crisis center in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City Democrat has worked to bring a wide range of groups together to fight on the behalf of abused women, including the creation of the Annual Day of Prayer for an End to Violence Against Women at the Oklahoma Capitol. Rep. Hamilton has been married for 30 years to her husband, Rodney, and the couple has two grown sons. She attends St. James Catholic Church, and is a long-time volunteer at Birth Choice of Oklahoma.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/author\/rhamilton\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cowardly Congress Scraps Abortion Bill","description":"The United States House of Representatives' leadership has made the decision to scrap a bill that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/01\/house-scraps-bill-banning-abortions-after-20-weeks-of-pregnancy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cowardly Congress Scraps Abortion Bill","og_description":"The United States House of Representatives' leadership has made the decision to scrap a bill that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/01\/house-scraps-bill-banning-abortions-after-20-weeks-of-pregnancy\/","og_site_name":"Public Catholic","article_published_time":"2015-01-26T15:32:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-01-26T17:07:38+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/files\/2015\/01\/boehner.jpg"}],"author":"Rebecca Hamilton","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rebecca Hamilton","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/01\/house-scraps-bill-banning-abortions-after-20-weeks-of-pregnancy\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/01\/house-scraps-bill-banning-abortions-after-20-weeks-of-pregnancy\/","name":"Cowardly Congress Scraps Abortion Bill","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-01-26T15:32:28+00:00","dateModified":"2015-01-26T17:07:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/e8d2778109308e0e776e5c16eae7b67d"},"description":"The United States House of Representatives' leadership has made the decision to scrap a bill that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/01\/house-scraps-bill-banning-abortions-after-20-weeks-of-pregnancy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/01\/house-scraps-bill-banning-abortions-after-20-weeks-of-pregnancy\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/01\/house-scraps-bill-banning-abortions-after-20-weeks-of-pregnancy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cowardly Congress Scraps Abortion Bill"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/","name":"Public Catholic","description":"Catholic in the Public Square","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/e8d2778109308e0e776e5c16eae7b67d","name":"Rebecca Hamilton","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6253ced313d53e0b7bfa51e5c9eb56d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6253ced313d53e0b7bfa51e5c9eb56d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Rebecca Hamilton"},"description":"During her tenure in the Oklahoma Legislature, Rep. Hamilton has been an advocate for human rights, believing that government must support and defend the sanctity of all human lives, from conception to natural death. Representative Hamilton: Authored the original Victim\u2019s Protective Order to protect battered women, Obtained funding for the first statewide program for adult day care and the first statewide program of domestic violence shelters, and she She has also passed legislation to prevent law enforcement officials from publicly posting the private information of rape victims, Rep. Hamilton authored a 2005 law hailed as the most significant piece of pro-life legislation in Oklahoma in 30 years. She also passed the bill outlawing elective abortions in state-funded hospitals She has passed pro life bills requiring informed consent, parental notification, and limiting forced abortions. She also passed a law allowing prosecutors to file criminal charges against anyone who intentionally causes the death of an unborn child by harming the mother. Rep. Hamilton has also authored legislation ensuring taxpayers are not forced to subsidize elective abortions Rep. Hamilton was one of six original co-founders of first rape crisis center in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City Democrat has worked to bring a wide range of groups together to fight on the behalf of abused women, including the creation of the Annual Day of Prayer for an End to Violence Against Women at the Oklahoma Capitol. Rep. Hamilton has been married for 30 years to her husband, Rodney, and the couple has two grown sons. She attends St. James Catholic Church, and is a long-time volunteer at Birth Choice of Oklahoma.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/author\/rhamilton\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1155"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27703"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27722,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27703\/revisions\/27722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}