Rep. Franks Pushes Expanded Abortion Ban in DC
Last night Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) introduced H.R. 3803, also known as the “D.C. Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,” to ban abortion procedures after 20 weeks gestation within the District of Columbia. The Arizona legislator purposely singled out Washington, D.C. for increased federal regulation with the knowledge that Congress has the authority to override the federal district’s opaque constitutional privileges to ‘home rule.’ Franks’ approach and singular focus on D.C. leads onlookers to conclude that the Representative is quietly aware that the bill would likely face significant opposition in individual states, hence their exclusion from the anti-choice proposal.
The District of Columbia’s at-large Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton immediately recognized Franks’ manipulative tactics to propel the subjective measure, publicly challenging the Representative; “If Rep. Franks is so intent on such a bill, I think he should add Arizona to the jurisdiction to which his bill would apply…Why would anyone do something to us that he wouldn’t do to his own district?”
The well-funded anti-choice group, National Right to Life Committee, reinforced suspicions surrounding Franks’ D.C. strategy, explaining that the District of Columbia, “has long been dismayed by the abortion policy that is currently in place in one jurisdiction that is under the direct constitutional authority of the Congress: the Federal District (District of Columbia).”
The most alarming aspect of this bill is not the sponsor’s surreptitious assertion of Congressional authority, but that the anti-choice proposal lacks fundamental medical certainties. The bill’s language makes no secret of the subjective argument within the text, and in the absence of proven scientific data or universally accepted medical conclusions, H.R. 3803 relies on, “evidence [which] indicates…” While multiple medical presumptions and conclusions are cited within the pages of H.R. 3803, Franks fails to establish a logical, indisputable connection between hard facts cited, and his wildly subjective argument.
Earlier this year, Washington D.C. was highlighted within the House appropriations package, and the final resolution to bridge budget gaps for the remainder of FY2012 included a provision to renew the D.C. abortion rider. Although Rep. Franks’ latest legislative ploy to further his anti-choice agenda is highly unlikely to move through the Democrat controlled Senate, onlookers expect the bill to gain momentum in the House, where the anti-choice bills dominated the 112th calendar at the expense of economic discussions and solutions.
