Republicans Mull Options for National Abortion Ban in Light of Roe Decision

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) decision to overturn Roe v. Wade Republicans, who are heavily favored to win the House this November, are weighing their options for attempting to pass a national abortion ban.

House Republicans made similar efforts when they held the lower chamber in 2015 and 2017; on two occasions, they passed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would have banned abortion nationally after 20 weeks of gestation. Predictably, the measure floundered in the Senate.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), who is sponsoring the same bill in the 117th Congress, has told CNN that he is weighing changing the measure to provide for a 15-week abortion ban. This move, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told CNN, would have the support of Republican leadership.

Another bill, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, has been mentioned in the past as another option for a GOP majority.

That bill, sponsored by Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), would require that medical care be given to babies who survived botched abortion attempts. Democrats have suggested that the measure is superfluous and that existing laws already ensure such protections for infants.

Wagner’s bill, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said in May, would be on the floor “day one” of a GOP-controlled legislature.

The Life at Conception Act, sponsored by Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W. Va.), would go even further, recognizing a right to life from the moment of conception—a position that even few GOP-led legislatures have yet put into law.

Mooney’s bill has an impressive 163 GOP co-sponsors, suggesting that the position is shared by a substantial portion of the entire House Republican caucus.

Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, has filed a discharge petition for the bill, which could force a vote on it over the head of Speaker of the

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