House GOP proposes end to 'telemedicine abortions'

Forty-eight House Republicans on Thursday proposed a bill that would cut off public funding for abortion providers that use video consultations with doctors to prescribe the morning-after pill.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) and dozens of other Republicans argue that this practice allows women access to abortion without having a doctor present as they take a drug that often leads to serious side-effects and hospitalization. King added Thursday that Planned Parenthood is a major beneficiary of this current practice.

"Planned Parenthood's ulterior motives must be made known," King said. "Their aggressive promotion of the gruesome practice of abortion by video conference is expanding the destructive 'abortion on demand' culture in America — all in the name of increased profits."

King said these "telemedicine abortions" help Planned Parenthood save costs by getting the same result as a surgical abortion, but "without the overhead costs." But King said evidence is mounting that the morning-after pill, RU-486, is dangerous to women.

"Eight percent of women who take the abortion drug known as RU-486 require surgical intervention to complete their abortion," he said. "This new practice leaves those women at grave risk and should never be supported with taxpayer dollars."

King's bill, H.R. 5731, has 47 co-sponsors, including Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

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