Abortion

GOP-Led House Approves Abortion Coverage-Limiting Bill

Evan McMorris-Santoro | May 4, 2011, 5:22PM

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ)

The House of Representatives just passed H.R. 3, the controversial abortion-funding law that pro-choice critics and the White House has said will make it harder for woman to pay for abortion coverage with their own money.

The passage was expected, considering 227 members signed on as co-sponsors of the legislation. The final vote was 251-175. Sixteen Democrats and 235 Republicans voted aye. The full rollcall vote is here.

It's not likely the bill will move along much further past the House. Democrats control the Senate and the Obama administration has promised to veto the bill if it ever land on the president's desk.

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Abortion

Sponsor of House Abortion Bill Doesn't Sign On To Tying It To The Debt Ceiling

Evan McMorris-Santoro | May 4, 2011, 1:15PM

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ)

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), the author of the controversial H.R. 3 bill that pro-choice critics and the White House say will severely limit the ability of women to find abortion coverage in private insurance plans, would not explicitly sign on with fellow Republicans calling for it to be tied to the debt ceiling vote.

Speaking with reporters on Wednesday as the House prepares for its expected passage of the "No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act," Smith -- one of the House's most ardent opponents of abortion and a leader on the issue for decades -- brushed off direct questions about a plan floated by some Republicans to tie HR 3 to the upcoming vote to raise the nation's debt limit. Republicans were able to attach an anti-abortion rider to the budget deal preventing Washington, DC from spending its taxpayer funds on abortion coverage for poor women, and some Republicans hope to repeat that strategy with Smith's bill.

Smith dodged when asked if he'd support the plan.

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Abortion

As Abortion Bill Nears House Vote, White House Threatens Veto

Evan McMorris-Santoro | May 3, 2011, 9:10AM

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ)

President Obama would veto H.R. 3 -- the bill that became infamous earlier this year for its original language about "forcible rape" -- if it were ever to make it to his desk.

The finalized version of H.R. 3, which proponents say is aimed at making existing government restrictions on funding abortion permanent, is scheduled for a House vote on Monday. Critics of the bill, including the White House, have said that it would make it tougher for women to seek abortion coverage from private insurers, effectively expanding government restrictions on abortion funding beyond the accepted practice found in the Hyde Amendment (which needs to be renewed by Congress every year.)

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Abortion

Author Of 'Forcible Rape' Law Stands Up For Chinese Women

Evan McMorris-Santoro | March 7, 2011, 5:56PM

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ)

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), the man who brought the 112th Congress the term "forcible rape" -- before quickly pulling it out of the controversial H.R. 3 he sponsored -- took to the microphones today to stand up for a woman's right to control her own body...

In China.

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Planned Parenthood

Pro-Life Rep: Many GOPers Will Vote Against Spending Bill If It Doesn't Defund Planned Parenthood

Brian Beutler | March 4, 2011, 9:45AM

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH).

A pro-life leader in the House says he and many other Republicans will vote against legislation to fund the government through September if a series of anti-abortion riders, which already passed the House, aren't included in the final bill.

"I'm going to push so hard to make sure those are all in there," Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) told The Takeaway. "You can't back off, from a human rights perspective. If you do so you facilitate the demise of hundreds of thousands of children."

Smith said several Republicans would defect on the spending bill if the abortion riders are removed. He focused specifically on one amendment, authored by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), eliminating federal funds for Planned Parenthood.

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Abortion

Report: Republicans Give Up On Redefining Rape

Evan McMorris-Santoro | February 3, 2011, 9:20AM

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ)

After pressure from women's groups, Democratic politicians and Jon Stewart, the authors of the controversial abortion bill in the House will drop language that appeared to exempt some rape victims from seeking federal help to pay for an abortion.

Politico reports this morning that Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), the lead sponsor of the bill and chair of the House pro-life caucus, will remove the phrase "forcible rape" from the bill and replace it with the same wording used in the Hyde Amendment. That Amendment bans federal abortion coverage already, and proponents of the House law say their goal was to make Hyde -- which has to be renewed every year -- a permanent fixture of federal law.

"The word forcible will be replaced with the original language from the Hyde Amendment," Jeff Sagnip, a spokesperson for Smith, told Politico. Smith's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TPM.

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