Now that all of our biggest problems have been solved, House Republicans can once again return their attention to what really matters: the War on Women.
This week, they're focusing on the previously introduced H.R. 358, the cynically and dishonestly named "Protect Life Act," which is really the "Let Women Die" bill. Why? Because the "pro-lifers" in the House want to ensure that hospitals have a right to deny health care to women, even if it means letting them die:
Under H.R. 358, dubbed the "Protect Life Act" and sponsored by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), hospitals that don't want to provide abortions could refuse to do so, even for a pregnant woman with a life-threatening complication that requires a doctor terminate her pregnancy. This provision would apply to the more than 600 Catholic hospitals governed by the Catholic Health Association, which are regulated by bishops and prohibited from performing abortions.
So whose lives are protected by this bill again? Oh yeah. No one's. And of course the proposed bill contains other standard anti-woman goodies in it:
In addition to changing the rules for hospitals, H.R. 358 would deny federal funding to any health care plan that includes abortion coverage, something that might cause insurance providers to stop covering abortions.
"During the debate over Obamacare, the president promised that no taxpayer dollars would be used to pay for abortions under the bill," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said at a voters' summit last week. “Unfortunately, this is not the way things played out."
Actually, Cantor, that's exactly how it played out. Not only do they already have the Hyde Amendment that bars government funding of abortion, but they even got the president to sign an executive order to super-duper bar government funding of abortion. But don't let facts get in the way of your endless war on women, pal.
As with prior attempts by House Republicans to make health care for women illegal, the White House has already signaled that it will probably veto any such bill that lands on the president's desk:
The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 358 because, as previously stated in the Statement of Administration Policy on H.R. 3, the legislation intrudes on women's reproductive freedom and access to health care and unnecessarily restricts the private insurance choices that women and their families have today.
Longstanding Federal policy prohibits Federal funds from being used for abortions, except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered. The Affordable Care Act preserved this prohibition and included policies to ensure that Federal funding is segregated from any private dollars used to fund abortions for which Federal funding is prohibited. The President’s Executive Order 13535 reinforces that Federal funding cannot be used for abortions (except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered) and ensures proper enforcement of this policy. H.R. 358 goes well beyond the safeguards found in current law and reinforced in the President’s Executive Order by restricting women’s private insurance choices.
If the President is presented with H.R. 358, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.
So in other words, this is all a monumental waste of time so Republicans can continue to pander to their anti-woman base and further avoid dealing with what Americans really care about: jobs.