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Legislation
Already Passed or Defeated
March
14, 2008
Personhood of a zygote II (see August 2,
2007): Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) offered an amendment to the FY09 budget
resolution intended to put into law a controversial 2002 Bush administration
regulation, which allows states to make an embryo or a fetus-but not a pregnant
woman-eligible for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). This
amendment failed 46-52-a larger margin of pro-choice
victory than when the same amendment was considered in 2007.
March 13, 2008
Anti-choice amendment NARROWLY defeated in the
Senate: Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) introduced an amendment to the
budget resolution to increase funding for enforcing the law that prohibits
anyone other than a parent-including a grandparent, aunt, adult sibling, or
member of the clergy-from accompanying a young woman across state lines for
abortion care if the home state's parental-involvement law has not been met. If
passed, this proposal would have increased attention to the criminalization of
young women who can't reach out to their parents for fear of violence, or in
cases of rape or incest, rather than focusing on meeting their health and
rights. This divisive and controversial amendment narrowly failed on a tie vote
of 49-49.
October 18, 2007
More attacks on sexual and reproductive health and rights: Picking up
the mantel carried by Rep. Mike Pence (see. July 19), Senator David Vitter
(R-LA) - the one who was purchasing services from the "Washington
Madam" - offered an amendment to prevent Planned Parenthood clinics from
getting federal funding for family planning services if those clinics provide
privately funded abortion services. The Senate defeated the amendment
41-52. Prior to this vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) offered an
amendment that restated current funding restrictions on abortion, which
provided enough comfort to Senators to oppose the Vitter amendment. The
Reid amendment passed 68-25 .
Proposed changes in funding for family planning/reproductive health and
sexuality education in the United States: When the Senate finished it work,
the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill
included a $17 million increase for Title X family planning and a $28 million
decrease for abstinence-only programs.
How did things end up?
After all the negotiations were over, the final bill signed into law by
President Bush on December 26, 2007 included an increase of $17 million for
Title X but also maintained the current level of funding for abstinence-only
programs.
September 6, 2007
Support for overturning the Global Gag Rule:
The Senate expressed its support for overturning the Global Gag Rule, by
introducing an amendment that would do so to the Foreign Operations
Appropriations bill, which passed by a vote of 53-41.
How did things end up?
President Bush threatened to veto the entire Foreign Operations Appropriations
bill if it contained modifications to the Global Gag Rule. Congress did not
have enough support to override a presidential veto so the provisions, which would
have expanded access to contraceptives globally, was stripped from the
bill.
Some progress was achieved. The final Foreign Operations Appropriations Act
overturned the requirement that at least 33 percent of global HV/AIDS
prevention funding be spent on failed abstinence-until-marriage programs (see
June 21 above). Additionally, the bill increased funding for
international family planning and reproductive health programs by $20
million. Although still inadequate, this increase in funding at least
countered the Administration's plan to cut these programs by $70 million.
President Bush signed this into law as part of an omnibus appropriations bill
on December 26, 2007.
August 2, 2007
Personhood of a zygote: By a whisker, the Senate
defeated an amendment 49-50 to, for the purposes of State Child Health
Insurance program, define an "unborn child" as a "member of the
species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the
womb." The amendment, offered by Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO), would
codify the Administration's 2002 regulation that intends to give a zygote,
embryo, or a fetus the rights of a person -separate from the woman.
August 1, 2007
Expanding contraceptive access and sexuality
education: The House voted 225-204 in favor of reauthorizing the
State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by passing the Children's
Health and Medicare Protection Act (CHAMP, H.R. 3162). The bill includes
language that would give states the option of expanding Medicaid coverage for family
planning services up to the level at which pregnancy-related services are
covered. The House bill also includes critical changes to current
abstinence-only program funding for states - requiring medical accuracy,
program effectiveness, and state flexibility. For the first time, states
would be able to use federal funding to deliver comprehensive sexuality
education. The Senate version of the bill does not include the same
provisions, and so differences will have to be worked out in a conference.
July 19, 2007
A domestic gag rule? Ardent
anti-contraception representative Mike Pence (R-IN) introduced amendments to
the Title X program in attempt to enforce restrictions similar to the Global
Gag Rule on domestic family planning programs. Title X provides contraceptives,
pregnancy tests, testing and prevention for HIV and other sexually transmitted
infections, and testing and screening for other diseases to low-income
Americans. This amendment would have prohibited Planned Parenthood
clinics from receiving Title X family planning assistance if they also provide
abortion services with private funding. A majority of the House opposed
the amendment, defeating it 231-189.
Increases in funding for reproductive health and sexuality education but
some funding still misdirected in the United States: The House's version of
the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill provided a commendable
$28 million increase to Title X, while at the same time upping the
funding for abstinence-only sexuality education despite the realization
that these programs are ineffective.
June 21, 2007
Progress on HIV Prevention: To better address the
local needs for global HIV prevention, the House voted to lift a legal
requirement that at least 33% of all prevention funding be dedicated to
abstinence until marriage programs. When Congress enacted the US Global
Leadership Against HIV/AIDS Act in 2003 (which later was turned into the
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, by the Administration)
they included the spending requirement for abstinence programming. As more and
more evidence shows that the requirement is hampering effective prevention
programming and forcing investments in efforts that are not meeting the needs
of people the most at risk, the House took a step toward changing the
ineffective policy. Two congressionally mandated reviews from the non
partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) have found that the
abstinence restriction is detrimental to the overall effort and should be
eliminated.
During consideration of the FY08 State Department and Foreign Operations
bill, Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) sought to strike the language that provides
flexibility in prevention program so that country programs can meet the needs
of the citizens and to emphasize evidence-based prevention strategies, such as
delaying onset of sexual activity, partner reduction, and comprehensive
sexuality education. By a vote of 226-200 the House rejected Pitts' effort and
retained the provision that will enable prevention programs to be designed with
the needs of each country in mind.
Contraceptives Receive Support: As part
of the FY08 spending bill for international programs, the House voted to help
reduce the number of unintended pregnancies (and therefore abortions) as well
as help reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS despite barriers put in place by the Bush
Administration. This provision would provide an exemption to foreign
nongovernmental family planning providers from the restrictions of the Global Gag Rule - or the Mexico City Policy - and
enable them to obtain US-funded contraceptives and condoms to provide to their
patients.
Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), chair of the committee that brought the bill forward,
included language in the base bill to provide the exemption. While some
raised concerns that the original language was not specific enough, when the
bill came to the floor on June 21, she offered an amendment to make it
absolutely clear that organizations would only receive contraceptives from the
United States. That amendment passed by a vote of 223-201.
Right afterward, staunch anti-contraception advocate Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ)
fought to strike the provision to enable clinics to provide more contraceptives
to those who want them. In a pro-contraception vote, the House rejected
the Smith amendment by a vote of 205 to 218.
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