The War Against Women: The Friday Edition

The week that was. On the national level, we have H.R. 3, the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.”

Indeed, after imposing new restrictions on abortion coverage in private health insurance plans through health reform, they are now pushing H.R. 3. With that bill, they want to completely eradicate abortion insurance coverage from the new health insurance exchanges that will be set up in 2014 under the health reform law, make abortion funding restrictions government-wide and permanent, and use the tax code for the very first time to punish those who pay for abortion care or coverage. They also initially tried to redefine rape and incest exceptions out of existence.

Thanks to the number of pro-choicers in the Senate, President Obama will probably never see the bill. Nonetheless, the White House threatens a veto.

The guilt-tripping of women into viewing sonograms and listening to fetal heart beats continues. This time, in Texas:

Any woman seeking an abortion in Texas will be forced to undergo a sonogram and be asked if they want to view it or listen to the fetal heartbeat, thanks to a bill that passed today and that Governor Rick Perry says he can't wait to sign.

Pushed by Houston's state Senator Dan Patrick, the abortion-sonogram bill got final approval today in the Senate after an initial vote yesterday; the House's GOP supermajority easily passed its own version earlier and the Senate bill now goes back to the House for expected swift passage.

And did I say Texas is also trying to eliminate a program that helps low-income women get birth control, Pap smears and cancer screenings, all in an effort to get back at Planned Parenthood? Think Indiana, where the move to cut off federal funding to Planned Parenthood appears to violate the Medicaid Act.  But all is well in Texas -- lawmakers approved legislation Tuesday authorizing "choose life" license plates in order to raise money to help pregnant mothers choose adoption over abortion.

In Iowa, a stalled measure that would ban most abortions after 20 weeks made it out of a Senate committee. But, the jury is still out, there.

In Maine, three proposals would add restrictions to abortion:

L.D. 116, sponsored by state Rep. Tyler Clark, R-Easton, would impose a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion, except in the case of a medical emergency. L.D. 924, sponsored by state Rep. Eleanor Espling, R-New Gloucester, would require that government-approved information, yet to be developed, must be read and handed over in writing to women seeking an abortion at least 24 hours before the abortion is performed. And L.D. 1457, sponsored by state Rep. Dale Crafts, R-Lisbon, would require written, notarized parental consent for abortions performed on women under 21 years old, with some exceptions.

And lucky for Minnesota, that they didn't put a Republican in the Governor’s Mansion. DFL Gov. Mark Dayton is not expected to sign bills that would prevent taxpayer funding for abortion, and prohibit abortions after 20 weeks of gestation.

I am sure there is plenty more, but enough already for today.