U.S. House of Representatives moves to codify abortion

WASHINGTON (BP and local reports) – The U.S. House of Representatives passed two abortion rights bills July 15 that seek to bypass the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 24 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case the court used to legalize abortion nationwide.

The Democratic-controlled House approved the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) by a 219-210 roll call vote and the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act (EAAA) by a 223-205 roll call vote. Both bills now move to the U.S. Senate.

While supporters of the WHPA bill, H.R. 9286, have described it as a codification of the Roe opinion into federal law, the legislation actually would eclipse that expansive ruling by prohibiting federal and state regulations now possible since Roe was overturned.

Meanwhile, the EEAA, H.R. 9287, would forbid pro-life efforts to prohibit “abortion tourism,” which is travel from one abortion-restricted state to another with looser or no regulations for the purpose of attaining an abortion.

A number of major companies including Disney, Bank of America, Starbucks, and Cigna have announced they will be paying for employee’s abortion tourism.

In the case of Comcast, owner of the NBC television network and a host of other properties, the company has pledged to provide $4,000 per abortion tourism trip for up to three such trips per individual per year.

EEAA would also thwart attempts to block the mailing of abortion pills across state lines that are be used to achieve non-surgical abortions at home by ingesting toxic medications known to kill and expel the developing child from the mother’s womb.

Mississippi House members who voted against both bills were Trent Kelly (R) of the First District, Michael Guest (R) of the Third District, and Michel Palazzo (R) of the Fourth District.

Bennie Thompson (D) of the Second District voted in favor of the bills.

All Democrats but one voted for WHPA. All Republicans voted no. On EEAA, all Democrats voted for the measure along three Republicans. All other Republicans voted no.

U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has endorsed both measures, but the evenly divided Senate has already rejected WHPA twice this year after Republicans refused to be a part of invoking cloture, a procedure to close debate and bring legislation to the floor for a vote.