When he spoke at an anti-abortion rally in Washington, D.C., yesterday, House Speaker John Boehner made clear one of his biggest priorities for the new Congress: Make abortion illegal in the United States.
Boehner stood before hundreds of thousands of pro-life supporters on the chilly National Mall and pledged to commit his Congress to delving into one of the most contentious issues of our generation. For a Congress that has been paralyzed by partisan warfare, trying to “make abortion a relic of the past,” as the speaker pledged, surely will not be a path to bipartisan comity.
Boehner said it’s now time for anti-abortion activists to “commit ourselves to doing everything we can to protect the sanctity of life.”
He said the first step is making permanent the Hyde Amendment, which prevents federal dollars from being used to pay for abortions except in cases of rape or incest.
“For the new Congress, that means bringing together a bipartisan pro-life majority and getting to work,” Boehner said. “In accordance with the will of the people, we will again work to pass the ‘No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,’ formally codifying the Hyde Amendment.”
Boehner said he will make it a national priority to “help make abortion a relic of the past.”
“Let that be one of our most fundamental goals this year,” he said.
According to a poll by the Pew Research Center released last week on the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, 63 percent of poll respondents want to keep the ruling in place, up slightly from 60 percent in 1992. Gallup released a poll showing that just 18 percent of Americans want abortion banned in all circumstances.
So the goals expressed by Boehner and the protesters at yesterday’s March for Life are solidly in the minority right now. But that won’t stop them for pushing to make abortions as inaccessible as possible, if not illegal.
For instance in Mississippi, the state’s only abortion clinic said it received notice Friday that the Mississippi Health Department intends to revoke its operating license. The reason? Because the clinic is out of compliance with a new Mississippi law passed in 2012 requiring that anyone performing abortions at the clinic must be an OB-GYN with hospital admitting privileges.
But the problem for the clinic, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, is that the local hospitals refuse to grant admitting privileges to doctors who provide abortions —something state legislators certainly were aware of when they passed the law. Clinic owner Diane Derzis said local hospitals would not issue privileges to out-of-state physicians who perform most of the abortions at the clinic.
The state’s administrative procedures law permits the clinic to remain open while it awaits a hearing by the health department, which will likely happen in a month or so.
The state of Mississippi also created another obstacle for the clinic to mount: The clinic doesn’t have enough parking spaces. State regulations require the clinic to be “located in an attractive setting with sufficient parking space provided.” So the clinic now must submit a plan within 10 days showing how it would correct the parking situation. The clinic’s parking lot holds fewer than 20 cars.
Jobs…didn't he say something about jobs once?
How is pretending he can overturn something he can't and shouldn't try creating jobs?
Listen lets bargain k? The 2nd amendment means muskets. That's all it means. You can have as many muskets as you want. Hundreds…THOUSANDS. Christianity? It goes bye bye from all the places you jam in in illegally. Religion belongs in the representative if he or she chooses, it has no role in government and law.
WIth intelligence and sanity brought to sex and sexuality we won't need the Roe Vs Wade ruling and the protections it gave us.
Or do you not REALLY want an end to abortion? We have seen how little you care about the pregnancies brought to term by the way you vote and the display of christian charity when calling them names, casting aspersions upon their characters and lamenting that you would have to give one red caring compassionate loving christian cent to the little lib darkies.
Cherished in the womb, vermin once they are born.
Spare us.
May the hell you condemn others to be real and may you rot and boil amongst one another throughout eternity. đŸ™‚
Boenher seems to forget what century he's in, afterall, the 33rd attempt to repeal obamacare will be going nowhere, he will likely try to impeach the prez and yet he hasn't gotten any jobs bill out of his quagmire congress. Everytime a republican squawks about the sanctity of life I get a chuckle, because usually they still want to strap someone to a gurney and execute them, or perhaps ellectrocute them ASAP. For over forty years thoses clown are still fighting long lost battles. That is why the majority of our citizens will be voting against these nuts.
Until the so called party of small government actually delivers on their promises of fiscal sanity….lower spending, less gov't intrusion, less regulatory meddling in peoples lives, they will be destined to be a minority party….forever tilting at the social issue windmills with much the same result as DQ.
I agree Trisha. This is why the Republicans lose Presidental elections. They don't seem to get it. What more can a person say about this. It would just mean more back street abortions and the rich would just send or go to another country and have this done. Just like it was years ago. Makes no sense.
He's just muddying the waters so we don't see the pink elephant, called the economy, in the room. Let's hear it for the back alley abortions! We can prevent deaths of living women and the proliferation of generational welfare but let's not allow that because
It's so obvious and pathetic what they are doing and they call themselves politicians. If they are so pro life then start taking care of the poor children and mothers who have these babies instead of after they are born they become the dependent mooches on society.