‘Secret’ GOP Anti-Abortion Provision May Doom Important Human Trafficking Bill
When it comes to future workings of this already divided Congress, as the old adage goes, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. (Photo: Getty Images)
The latest piece of GOP-backed anti-abortion legislation was allegedly snuck into a bi-partisan anti-human trafficking bill … without the bill’s Democrat supporters ever knowing.
The Justice for Trafficking Victims Act would fine convicted traffickers and use those funds for support services for trafficking survivors. It is the kind of feel-good, do-good legislation that easily lends itself to cheery support from both sides of the aisle, letting an oft-divided Congress come together in a clear effort to help those in need.
But now, thanks to the added legislation, the bill will probably not pass. Though the bill passed through the Senate judiciary committee late last month, Democrats are saying they were not aware that additional language had been added to the bill by Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) to prohibit the use of federal funding for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or where the life of the mother is at risk.
"Today, the Senate is doing a good deed. We have a chance to address human trafficking," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D - Nev.) in remarks Wednesday on the Senate floor. "In this legislation that is meant as an outline to stop child trafficking and human trafficking generally, there is a provision in this legislation dealing with abortion. It has nothing, nothing to do with this."
"If my friend, the Republican leader, is so in tune with getting this passed, take that legislation out of the bill. Otherwise, it will not pass," Reid added, addressing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who spoke in favor of the measure Wednesday morning.
Cornyn, however, says he refuses to believe that his colleagues across the aisle were unaware of the anti-choice measure they claim to have unwittingly supported, saying in a press conference yesterday, “That leads me to believe that some of the suggestions being made now — that there were provisions in the legislation that people didn’t know about — are simply untrue. That presupposes that none of their staff briefed their senators on what was in the legislation, that nobody read a 68-page bill and that senators would vote for a bill — much less co-sponsor it — without reading it and knowing what’s in it. None of that strikes me as plausible.”
Two key Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) both insist that it was communicated to them that no such anti-choice measures would be included in this bill and that the version of the bill that they were given for review last year did not contain any such language.
While it remains to be determined on how this issue will be resolved and the ultimate fate of the bill, it does seem unlikely that legislators with long-standing pro-choice records would have knowingly supported an anti-choice measure.
In a statement, Cecile Richards, President, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said, “It’s outrageous that some politicians are using a bill to protect victims of sex trafficking to push an extreme anti-abortion, anti-immigrant agenda. This is politics at its worst. A bill that was supposed to help women is instead being used to hurt women. The Senate should protect victims of human trafficking but should not do so at the expense of women’s access to safe and legal abortion. The majority of human trafficking victims are women and girls, and they need access to the full range of reproductive health care services without barriers.”
So when it comes to future workings of this already divided Congress, as the old adage goes, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Democrats will surely be double- and triple-proofing everything that their Republican colleagues send their way after this snafu, wary of women’s rights being stripped when they least suspect it.
