Abortion

If you want to know how effective Cecile Richards is, just ask her opponents.

The move will likely stir controversy among social conservatives, some of whom view Plan B as a form of abortion.

Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) is bringing back a bill to ban most abortions in the District of Columbia after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Franks, a member of the Judiciary Committee, reintroduced the legislation Friday after an almost identical measure failed to pass the House last year under a suspension of the rules.

That procedure requires two-thirds of the chamber to support a bill in order for it to pass. 

Speaking to Planned Parenthood's national conference, the president criticized Republican governors' attempts to limit abortion access.

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A new bill from Senate Democrats would allow female service members to obtain abortions at military hospitals using their own money.

The practice is banned under current law unless the woman is a victim of rape or incest, or her life is in danger. Critics say the policy prevents military women from exercising their right to abortion.

"This legislation would bring unjust treatment to an end," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), a co-sponsor of the new bill, in a statement.

The address highlights his close ties to a group that spent millions in support of his reelection campaign.

Republican lawmakers are attacking the major U.S. broadcasters for not devoting more airtime to the grisly trial of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell.

More than 70 GOP House members accused ABC, CBS and NBC News of deliberately avoiding controversial stories about abortion in letters to the network presidents that were sent Wednesday.

"We see no excuse for your failure to report these stories other than blatant media bias," the lawmakers wrote. "There is nothing 'politically incorrect' about reporting the negative impacts of abortion on women and children." 

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) vowed Wednesday to join with abortion-rights groups and fight a forthcoming GOP bill to ban most abortions in the District of Columbia after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

"We will combat the insatiable Republican obsession with interfering with the rights of women in our city, as we have successfully done before," Norton said in a statement.

Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) told The Hill earlier this week that he would soon reintroduce the D.C. Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, a measure that failed to pass the House last year under suspension of the rules. 

Abortion-rights supporters filed suit Tuesday to block Arkansas's law banning most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights are hoping that a federal judge will block the statute, one of the country's strictest on abortion, before it takes effect this summer.

The groups said the law is unconstitutional because women have a guaranteed right to end pregnancies before they are viable at around 24 weeks of gestation. 

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