Rare News Desk
The day after the Supreme Court refused to take up the case of anti-abortion extremist James Charles Kopp, who shot an abortion provider dead in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1998, House Republican leaders passed an expansive anti-abortion bill to limit the procedure to first 20 weeks after a woman conceives, The Associated Press reported.
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James Charles Kopp, known as “Atomic Dog” in radical anti-abortion circles, is a former Operation Rescue activist who sought an appeal several times since his 2003 second-degree state murder conviction and 2007 federal conviction for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, the AP reported.
His most recent appeal claimed his attorney had a conflict of interest and sought clarification from the high court on whether evidence generated amid a conflict of interest can be used to convict a defendant, the AP reported.
Kopp, who maintains he was not trying to kill the physician when he shot him with a military style assault rifle but only to wound him and prevent abortions, is a suspect in four other physicians’ nonfatal shootings between 1994 and 1997, the AP reported.
The House bill is expected die in the Democrat-controlled Senate and be vetoed if it were to reach the White House, the AP reported.
Its political aim is to give GOP candidates leverage in the upcoming primaries and possibly set up a court challenge that could force the Supreme Court to revisit Roe v. Wade, The Associated Press reported.
GOP anti-abortion proponents and social conservatives have been energized after Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia abortion doctor who was recently convicted for murdering babies who were born alive during late-term abortions, brought the issue back into the spotlight, which had been more on economic issues in recent months, the AP reported.
Democrats called the bill an attempt by GOP leaders to appease their base and predicted the move would backfire on Republican efforts garner more favor among women, observing that the Judiciary Committee approved the measure last week on a party-line vote of 23 Republican men and zero women.
The bill’s main sponsor, Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., did not lead in managing the bill on the House floor, in part because women were assigned the role, but also because the vote closely followed his controversial comments last week that rape resulted in few pregnancies, the AP reported.
After his remarks, Franks’ bill was modified to add an exception to the 20-week ban in cases of rape or incest, though Democrats said exception would require a woman to prove that she had reported the rape to authorities. The bill does allow an exception when the mother’s life is in danger, though other health exceptions were rebuffed, the AP reported.
Several of the states with laws on the books similar to the House bill face court challenges, the AP reported, citing last month’s federal court strike down of Arizona’s law.
Related articles
- White House vows to veto restrictive new abortion bill (upi.com)
- Ohio Bill Requires Doctors To Tell Women Abortions Increase Breast Cancer Risk (cleveland.cbslocal.com)
- Late-Term Madness in New York (nationalreview.com)
