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GOP senator files abortion amendment to cybersecurity bill
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) filed an amendment to pending cybersecurity legislation that would outlaw some abortions in the District of Columbia.
The measure matched a bill from Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) that the House considered Tuesday. Both efforts would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy in D.C. except when the mother's life is threatened, and imprison or fine doctors who disobey.
Lee's amendment comes as senators wrap up work on a cybersecurity bill authored by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.).
The statement came after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) proposed submitting an amendment to repeal healthcare reform, and after Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) filed an amendment to limit the purchase of high-capacity gun magazines.
"We can get this bill done and protect our security," Lieberman said Tuesday. "Nobody believes we're going to repeal ObamaCare this week or we're going to adopt gun control legislation."
He added that negotiators were fairly close to a deal on amendments but "not there yet."
The House abortion bill, which Lee's amendment essentially duplicates, has come under fire from supporters of abortion rights and advocates of D.C. home rule.
Anti-abortion groups, meanwhile, say the District's liberal policy on the issue merits reasonable limits. The 20-week timetable, they argue, matches some research that suggests fetuses can feel pain at that stage.
Read more about the bill here and here.
