Cleveland Plain Dealer: Rep. Marcia Fudge and Others Wade into Abortion Debate to Mark Roe v. Wade Anniversary

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By Sabrina Eaton

Members of Congress are reviving the debate over abortion to mark Thursday's 42nd anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision, which overturned laws that criminalized the procedure.

The House of Representatives plans to debate a bill Thursday that would criminalize most abortions performed after a woman's 20th week of pregnancy. The bill's supporters say it is needed to "protect the lives of babies and their mothers."

"The United States is one of the few remaining countries in the world that allows abortion after 20 weeks," said Tennessee GOP Rep. Marcia Blackburn, a bill co-sponsor who argues the procedure is inhumane. The measure makes exceptions if an abortion is needed to save a woman's life, and in cases of rape and incest against minors in which the crimes were previously reported to authorities.

Some Republicans question the fairness of requiring that victims have reported the crime before seeking an abortion, as the White House did in issuing a veto threat.

"The provision that requires rape and incest survivors to report the crime to a law enforcement agency or child welfare authority in order to have access to an abortion after the 20-week mark demonstrates a complete disregard for the women who experience sexual assault and the barriers they may face in reporting," said a White House statement on the legislation. "Research indicates that the majority of survivors have not reported their sexual assaults to law enforcement."

The White House also disputed the bill's scientific basis and said it disregards the Constitution, women's health and rights, and the role doctors play in women's health care decisions.

Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge waded into the debate Wednesday by announcing that she'll co-sponsor a bill that would overturn abortion clinic restrictions that states including Ohio adopted.

In Ohio, a state budget provision blocked abortion centers from entering into required contracts, called transfer agreements, with public hospitals. That policy change and others have shut down several Ohio abortion clinics in recent years.

"Women have a constitutional right to make their own decisions regarding reproductive health," said a statement from Fudge. "Unfortunately, legislative attacks at the state level have diminished access to essential reproductive care in some parts of the country, including my home state of Ohio. These burdensome and unlawful regulations do nothing to protect a woman's health or safety."

Ohio Right to Life president Mike Gonidakis called the bill Fudge backs "an extreme attempt to garner favor from the abortion industry" that does not reflect the views of most Americans.

"She apparently does not care about the plight of pregnant African American women in her district and would simply sit back and watch a disproportionately and alarming number of African American babies lose their lives to abortion," said Gonidakis.

While the bill Fudge backs did not advance during the last Congress, its sponsors said they hope that will change this year. Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he will attempt to convince his GOP colleagues the measure is "good public policy and good commonsense" because comparable outpatient medical procedures don't face similar restrictions.

"In many of our colleagues' states, there are substantial constituencies that will express themselves to our Republican colleagues and make clear that they do not want limitations of physical plant, staffing and hospital privileges as a basis for restricting the practical exercise of these rights," Blumenthal said.

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican from the Cincinnati area who opposes abortion, marked the upcoming anniversary by re-introducing a bill he's championed that would make it a federal offense to transport a minor across a state line for an abortion if it would circumvent a state law requiring parental involvement.

Portman noted that 12 states and the District of Columbia lack laws that require parental involvement if their children have abortions, and that minors from states like Ohio are often transported across state lines to circumvent parental notification requirements. Ohio law requires the consent of one parent for a minor to get an abortion.

"This legislation simply says that parents have a right to be involved in their kids' most important decisions, a view supported by an overwhelming majority of Americans," said Portman.

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