Norton and Allies Ready to Again Defeat Anti-Choice Bill that also Targets D.C., Following House Committee Passage
Press Release
Following the House Judiciary Committee's passage of H.R. 7, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) thanked Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), Ranking Member of the Committee, for offering an amendment at today's committee markup of the bill to strike a provision that would permanently ban D.C. from spending its own local funds on abortion services for low-income women, and would define D.C. as part of the federal government for purposes of abortion. The amendment failed 11-19 on a party-line vote. Norton expressed her special gratitude to Conyers and Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, for forcefully speaking out at the hearing for D.C.'s right to self-governance and leading a spirited defense of the women of the District and the nation.
At a press conference of Members outside the committee room before today's markup, Norton said the markup signaled "the kickoff of War on Women II," despite the GOP losses of women in the 2012 elections. She said that the denial of the routine courtesy of allowing her to testify at a hearing on the bill before an all-make Republican majority last week, about a provision targeting her district, was the least offensive of the actions taken by the GOP on this bill, which she said has crossed over the line into fanaticism. She cited several sections affecting women throughout the country, but she also said that when GOP champions of devolution of federal power introduce a D.C. provision that redefines the District as a part of the federal government for purposes of abortion, that is "hypocrisy, not democracy."
The bill would, among other things, prohibit the use of federal funds for abortion services and interfere with women's access to abortion coverage in the private insurance marketplace. It would also permanently prohibit only the District of Columbia from spending its local funds on abortion services for low-income women, and would define the D.C. government as part of the federal government for the purposes of abortion. While the bill is expected to pass the House, as it did last Congress, Norton will continue to work with her Senate colleagues to again defeat it.
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