Morning Roundup: House Judiciary Committee Passes H.R. 3

Beth Saunders

House Judiciary Committee moves H.R. 3 to the full House, three abortion bills survive Iowa's bill funnel, the governor of South Dakota says he's likely to sign bill requiring CPC counseling, an elected official is surprised at the reaction when he says women belong at home raisin' babies, and a Kenyan official suggests banishment for those with HIV.

House Judiciary Committee moves H.R. 3 to the full House, three abortion bills survive Iowa’s bill funnel, the governor of South Dakota says he’s likely to sign bill requiring CPC counseling, an elected official is surprised at the reaction when he says women belong at home raisin’ babies, and a Kenyan official suggests banishment for those with HIV.

  • The House Judiciary Committee passed H.R. 3, Rep. Chris Smith’s “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” yesterday by a vote of 23-14. A Democratic representative from Puerto Rico crossed party lines to vote in favor of the bill. It now heads to the full House floor.

    Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) called it “an unprecedented attack on women, families, and their rights under the Constitution. Let’s not pretend this is about government funding.” Nadler accused Republicans of duplicity for portraying tax incentives as federal funding, arguing that it contradicts the party’s view of taxes. He said the argument also implies that tax exemption for religious entities would constitute the federal funding of religion, a violation of the First Amendment.

  • Three abortion-related bills survived Iowa’s “bill funnel,” in which legislation that has not received committee approval does not continue to be valid. The provisions (all proposed by the GOP) include a ban on abortion after 20 weeks, a ban on state money to facilities that provide abortion (even though none of the money is used for pregnancy termination) AND a requirement that the $1.4 million given to clinics since July 2010 is returned, and a ban on insurance plans that cover abortion in state exchanges.  
  • South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard has said he is likely to sign into law the South Dakota bill requiring a woman to wait 72 hours and meet with an anti-choice non-certified counselor at a crisis pregnancy center before she is permitted to terminate her pregnancy.
  • A county official in Frederick, Maryland, is surprised that people are so upset about the explanation he gave about his vote to decimate the Head Start program in his area. He says he guesses he hit a hot button when he said the county shouldn’t fund the program because “wherever possible, mothers should be home with small children.” He has twelve children and his wife does not work outside the home.
  • AIDS activists in Kenya are calling for an apology or resignation from the Minister of Special Programmes who recently suggested that people who test positive for HIV should be locked away. The National AIDS Control Council falls under her purview.

    In Cuba, when President Castro was still very strong, anybody who was tested with HIV and AIDS was actually locked somewhere and once you went in, you did not come out,” said Esther Murugi, minister for special programmes, on 28 January at a meeting with members of parliament on HIV/AIDS. “I don’t know whether we should be that drastic or what we should do. But sometimes I think, maybe that is what we should do so that those who are ill are locked in.

Mar 4

Mar 3