6/3/2012 12:06 PM
..The US House of Representatives rejected legislation Thursday put forward by pro-life Republicans that would have outlawed abortions based on the sex of a fetus.
Congressman Trent Franks, sponsor of the Prenatal Non-Discrimination Act, had said that the bill would "provide that no discrimination can be taken against an unborn child" in the form of an abortion based on its gender.
Such "sex selection" abortions had taken the lives of 200 million unborn girls around the world, he said, a few hours before the House voted on the proposal.
Had it been enacted into law, the bill would have set prison terms of up to five years, as well as fines, for anyone -- including doctors -- who incite or carry out an abortion based on sex selection.
Similar legislation has been adopted at the state level in Arizona, Illinois, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.
The House voted 246-168 in favor of the bill, including 20 Democrats, but because it came to the floor under a suspension of the chamber's normal rules, the legislation needed a two-thirds majority to pass.
The failed bill was the latest episode in an ongoing struggle by social conservatives in the United States against abortion, which the Supreme Court has ruled to be a private matter between a woman and her doctor.
"This is an important issue to the American people," John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the House, said in support of the legislation.
"This type of sex selection, most Americans find pretty repulsive. Our members feel strongly about it. That's why it's being brought to the floor," he told reporters shortly before the vote.
"We know it's a problem all over the world," added another congressman, Christopher Smith from New Jersey.
"We know it's a problem here (in the United States) and that's why we're trying to stop this violation of women rights."
In a statement to ABC News, the White House said the administration of President Barack Obama "opposes gender discrimination in all forms."
"But the end result of this legislation would be to subject doctors to criminal prosecution if they fail to determine the motivations behind a very personal and private decision," it said.
"The government should not intrude in medical decisions or private family matters in this way.
Democrat Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi accused Franks of introducing politicized legislation and cited various medical groups and providers who had expressed opposition to the bill.
"The maker of the motion has said he brought it to the floor for a purpose that was not exactly scientific, and so I think it should be treated that way," Pelosi said.
The number of gender-based abortions in the United States is unknown.
But the National Right to Life Committee, citing economist Nicholas Eberstadt of the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank, said the practice is growing, particularly in Asian immigrant communities.
Live Action, another pro-life group, citing a public opinion poll, said that 80 percent of women oppose abortions determined on the basis of the sex of a fetus.
In the pro-choice camp, Planned Parenthood, the single biggest US abortion provider, said the real aim of the bill was to limit women's right to choose while also targeting communities it purports to help.
"Anti-choice politicians are exploiting the very real problems of sex discrimination and gender inequity to launch a sneak attack on a woman's right to choose," added NARAL Pro-Choice America, which campaigns for the repeal of all anti-abortion legislation.
"It's cynical and it's disgusting."
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Sandy,
I'm not sure if everyone might have know that this was being considered. I cut and pasted the story above. I think there are currently enough laws out there that make it difficult enough for an abortion to occur. The decision it's self would be gut wrenching. Even if it were to pass, who's to say that the parents wouldn't say it's for another reason? Or does someone get accused of aborting a fetus due to it's sex when there is a medical condition behind the reason?
Like I have said before, I thought the republicans who won in 2010 got elected because they were going to create jobs and fix the economy. They have failed to work with the president and the other side of the aisle on that so I guess they are pandering to their base.
I have already heard of a story of a republican in Georgia (not sure if he was a state Representative of a member of the U.S. Congress), but when an anti-abortion bill had been introduce that was so restrictive he did not vote for it. He had the misfortune of his daughter who was pregnant with a baby that had a rare genetic defect or something like that, that when born wouldn't probably even take a breath before dieing, so she had made the tough decision to have an abortion. He didn't want other parents to be put into that position and not be able to choose what was best for them. Now the tea party is trying to run him out of his seat because he isn't conservative or Republican enough. That is just plain bull.
Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO