NORTON META TAG

10 May 2012

GOP Rep. Introduces Totally Sane Abortion Bill 10MAI12

PROVING not all republicans are right wing tea-bagging extremist Rep Robert Dold R IL has introduced legislation to prohibit discrimination against health care providers that perform abortions and so protects a woman's right to a safe and legal abortion. He is taking the moral high ground unlike so many other legislators on the state and national level, recognizing that pro life doesn't end at birth and sometimes, no matter how much we may not like to admit it, a woman has the right to choose to have an abortion. This from Mother Jones / MOJO.....
planned parenthood sign
Going against the broader trend among House Republicans, Rep. Robert Dold (R-Ill.) rolled out a bill on Wednesday that would protect women's access to abortion. The freshman lawmaker introduced the "Protecting Women's Access to Health Care Act," which would strengthen laws prohibiting discrimination against health care providers that provide abortions. The bill is meant to counter Dold's GOP colleagues' efforts to defund Planned Parenthood.
GQ's Marin Cogan reported from Dold's tiny press conference to unveil the bill, noting that the Republican congressman didn't have any cosponsors with him—instead, supporters from Planned Parenthood and Republican Majority for Choice were at his side. "This is an opportunity that we've got to do the right thing," Dold told Cogan.
It's already illegal to discriminate against healthcare providers for also offering abortions. So when states pass laws barring federal family planning money—called Title X funds—from going to groups that also provide abortions, the federal government cuts off those states' access to all federal family planning money. So far, that hasn't stopped a number of states, including Indiana, Texas, and Kansas, from passing laws that discriminate against abortion providers anyway. Dold may be hoping that by strengthening the legal prohibition against such discrimination, he can tempt some states to reconsider—and, perhaps, that he will get some media attention to remind voters in his new, much more Democratic district that he identifies as pro-choice.

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