Democrats are fuming over what they have dubbed the "Let Women Die" act.
The Republican-controlled House passed a controversial abortion bill Thursday that would further restrict access to abortions.
The bill's sponsor, Pennsylvania Republican Joe Pitts, had little trouble finding the votes he needed for passage, with more than a dozen Democrats joining the GOP to pass the measure, 251-172, the National Journal reports.
While the legislation has little chance of clearing the Democratic-controlled Senate, it nonetheless represents a hot button issue for the GOP’s base ahead of next year’s elections.
In specific, the so-called Protect Life Act would amend the new health care law to block federal subsidies from being used to pay for any health insurance plan that covers abortion, except in certain cases such as rape and incest. It would also require companies offering insurance plans covering abortions through an exchange to offer identical plans without the abortion coverage. And, perhaps most controversially, it would prevent "discrimination" against health care entities that refuse to perform, train for, or refer patients to providers of the procedure.
It is the latter part of the bill that has prompted its opponents to dub it the "Let Women Die" act, arguing that it would remove the existing requirement of hospitals to provide access to emergency services, regardless of one's ability to pay.
Talking Points Memo explains that argument: It "would free hospitals from any abortion requirement under [current law], meaning that medical providers who aren't willing to terminate pregnancies wouldn't have to – nor would they have to facilitate a transfer" to another hospital that would.
