Senator Mike Lee Introduces Anti-Federalist Bill that Interferes with Local Jurisdiction’s Rights
WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) yesterday introduced an anti-federalist bill (S. 2103) that would ban all abortions in the District of Columbia after 20 weeks, with very limited exceptions, in what could be a step toward banning such abortions nationwide. Lee's legislation, the "District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act," mirrors a bill filed last month in the House by Representative Trent Franks (R-AZ), broadening the usual Republican attacks on women who live in the District and on home rule by prohibiting all such abortions, regardless of the source of funding, in only one local jurisdiction, the District of Columbia. Norton said that if Republicans are successful in banning abortions after 20 weeks in the District, it could give them the momentum they need to make this a nationwide policy.
"Senator Lee had filed only 11 bills a little over a year into his first term before introducing this bill, so I am sure that his constituents would prefer bills that signal that he is focused on the needs of Utah instead of interfering with the business of another jurisdiction," Norton said. "We have already begun mobilizing pro-choice women and organizations nationally to fight this bill, which is pending in the House as well. Even those who disagree with the views of our residents on abortion understand that neither the Constitution nor Supreme Court interpretations allow discriminatory treatment regarding the constitutional rights of the American citizens who live in the nation's capital. Senator Lee is trying to undemocratically usurp local authority outside his own state in violation of every founding principle of local control, and at the same time to introduce the idea that basic constitutional rights depend on where a citizen lives. There can be no justification for denying the federal-taxpaying residents of the nation's capital the same rights as other American citizens."
The Senate legislation mirrors Representative Franks' "District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act" (H.R. 3803), which has 115 cosponsors and has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on which Norton is a member. Lee's bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Norton has been working with her congressional allies and the coalition of 100 national and local organizations that helped her achieve a Senate Appropriations Committee-passed Fiscal Year 2012 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill free of all anti-home-rule riders to defeat the House bill, and will do the same for Senator Lee's bill.
Published: February 14, 2012