Suspended Debate: Congress Passes a New Abortion Law with Little Fanfare

On November 20, 2004, A controversial abortion provision passed through Congress. It would have received much more media attention had it not been tucked into a $388 billion spending bill.

Republicans added abortion legislation to a large bill that appropriates federal funding for various government agencies, including Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.

By adding the contentious provision to this must-pass bill, Republican lawmakers prevented Democrats from stopping it.

Preventing filibuster

Democrats would have used procedural tactics to block (a.k.a. filibuster) the abortion law had it not been tied to the omnibus spending bill.

Although they did not vote down the provision, Democrats complained that Republicans unfairly slipped it into the bill, since the Senate did not approve the law but the joint conference committee included it in the final version anyway.

What the provision does

The new abortion law, initially proposed and passed by the House, will deny federal funds to any federal agency or state government that compels doctors, hospitals, insurers, or HMOs to provide abortion services.

In the past, federal, state, and local agencies have withheld taxpayer funds from healthcare providers who refuse to offer abortion services to their patients. This bill would prevent this practice, which the law’s proponents call "discrimination."

Anti-abortion activists have been lobbying Congress to expand an existing federal law that allows Roman Catholic doctors to forgo abortion training. This law is considered a "conscience protection," and anti-abortion groups argue that the protection should be expanded to hospitals, HMOs and insurers as well.

The National Right to Life Committee considers the law’s passage to be a major victory. Opponents feel that the law will have a major impact as well.

The debate

Opponents of the legislation say that the law could make it much harder for women to find safe abortion and reproductive health services. Hospitals and doctors in more conservative states will be less likely to offer the procedure to women who want it.

Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY) explained that the law may even hinder emergency care. For example, it may allow for the refusal of critical care for a woman who has suffered an incomplete miscarriage.

But the law’s proponents argue that private hospitals and health care centers have the right to decide their own abortion policies and that states should not discriminate against those that are anti-abortion. They offer the example of a community hospital in New Mexico that was denied a lease application by the state because it refused to provide abortions.

Women Senators object

Nine women Senators wrote a letter of protest to Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), chairman of the Appropriations Committee, who backed Republican negotiators that insisted that the abortion measure be included in the legislation.

Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark), and Republican Senators Susan Collins (Maine) and Olympia Snowe all objected to the measure, saying it could be harmful to women’s health.

Barbara Boxer, who charged Republicans with violating the committee process in order to include the abortion measure, was able to strike a deal with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) that the Senate would have a chance to repeal the measure - via another vote - by April 30, 2005.

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Update Posted on: 12/3/2004