In anticipation of a major anti-abortion march Friday, the House will vote on a bill this week that permanently restricts federal funding for abortions.
The bill, which advanced through the House Rules Committee Monday night, seeks to make permanent the Hyde amendment, a rider that for decades has been attached to spending bills restricting any federal funding for abortions.
The House passed similar legislation in 2011, 2014 and 2015 and it is expected to pass the bill again, but those bills stalled in the Senate. This year, the legislation likely will require eight Senate Democrats to support it.
“We pass this bill a lot,” said Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y. “It is like voting 60 times to repeal healthcare.”
Some Democrats charged that the move is only an effort to look good for the March for Life, a major annual gathering of tens of thousands of anti-abortion activists.
“My colleagues want to go before the crowd and say we are doing something,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.
The hearing Monday broke down into several testy exchanges.
Slaughter asked Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., about which other medical procedures the U.S. has outlawed.
“What about vasectomies, do you think we should outlaw vasectomies?” she asked. “It would be fair and square, wouldn’t it?”
Smith responded that there is “no dismemberment of a child” during a vasectomy. He added that a third party is involved in abortion: the unborn child.
Smith said the legislation is needed because the federal government has funded abortions through the Affordable Care Act’s subsidies, which pay down the cost of health insurance plans for low-income customers.
“It would ensure that [the] subsidies cannot be paid to plans that include abortions on demand,” he said, referring to elective abortions. Subsidies could go to plans that cover abortion in the case of rape or incest or to save the life of the mother.
The law already restricts subsidies from going to plans that cover elective abortions. But Smith said that the law isn’t doing a good job, referring to a 2014 report from the Government Accountability Office that found that about 1,000 insurance plans in 28 states cover elective abortion and another 1,000 do not. Those 28 states do not have any laws restricting the circumstances when plans can provide elective abortions.
McGovern asked Smith why he put so much attention on Obamacare when the GOP is trying to repeal it. Earlier this month, Congress passed a budget resolution that starts the repeal process.
Smith conceded that he doesn’t know when the repeal is going to happen.
“It’s not clear at what point there would be a repeal,” he responded. “The process could be extended into next year.”
