Post-20-Week D.C. Abortion Ban Bill Defeated

Photo by PoPville flickr user thisisbossi

From the office of Eleanor Holmes Norton:

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today released the following statement on the defeat in the House of H.R. 3803, a bill sponsored by Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) that would have banned abortions in the District of Columbia after 20 weeks of pregnancy:

“Seldom does the District win a vote on the floor of the House this big. Republicans failed to achieve the two-thirds majority necessary on a bill that would have denied District of Columbia residents of their constitutional rights for the first time in American history. Women’s groups, among them Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America, helped us blow the whistle on a bill that used D.C. residents to target the reproductive rights of women across the nation. Every member of the House, except the one representing the only district affected by the bill, had a vote on the bill. During floor debate, Ranking Member John Conyers Jr. (D-MI) asked Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), the sponsor of the bill, why his bills was not introduced as a national bill, Franks never answered. Women understood the answer, however. The D.C. label fooled no one. And, in the end, I am grateful that an overwhelming majority of Democrats stuck with the District and refused to cross over to be a party to this abuse of congressional power. The bill has had the effect House Republicans most dreaded. It has reinvigorated the pro-choice movement in our country, raising the consciousness of American women again to understand that their right to reproductive choice is always on the line.”