House Republicans Drop 'Forcible Rape' Language From Abortion Bill

House Republicans announced Thursday that they are taking a step back from a particularly controversial passage of a piece of anti-abortion legislation that many had criticized as a dangerous redefinition of the acts that constituted "rape."

"The word 'forcible' will be replaced with the original language from the Hyde Amendment," a spokesman for Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), one of the sponsors of H.R. 3. The "No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act," told Politico.

The Hyde Amendment is the existing measure meant to bar the use of certain federal funds to pay for abortions.

Here's the key passage from the latest bill, which appeared to provide a narrower interpretation for what would be considered as rape.

'[I]f the pregnancy occurred because the pregnant female was the subject of an act of forcible rape or, if a minor, an act of incest;

As HuffPost's Jason Linkins reported earlier this week, the undefined nature of "forcible rape" had left many questions about what actual exceptions would be allowed.

Sady Doyle at Salon outlined one such concern:

H.R. 3's language brings us back to an ancient, long-outdated standard of rape law: "Utmost resistance." By this standard, a rape verdict depended not on whether the victim consented, but on whether outsiders thought she resisted as hard as humanly possible. Survivors rarely measured up.

On Wednesday, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) blasted the bill as a "violent act against women in and of itself," due to its seeming provision of some instances in which victims of rape would be denied abortions.

Comments

[Jim8]

12:54 PM on 02/23/2011

They don't have this issue in Canada, where everyone is covered for medical procedures. Abortion is a medical procedure and thus, covered.

Of course, if men got pregnant, we would not have this issue either. The party of old white men strikes again.

[Lisa Holiday]

08:09 AM on 02/09/2011

Let's not get it twisted, "Utmost resistance" is much more dangerous language than "Forcible Rape" "Utmost resistance" places the onus on the woman - did she do enough damage to the man that can be proven in court - "Forcible" means there a man was the aggressor, period.

[liberallibrarian]

06:02 PM on 02/04/2011

Too little, too late, guys. We will not forget what you tried to do.

[minty68]

01:52 PM on 02/04/2011

"Forcible rape" is a redundancy. This never should have even been up for discussion. Way to further alienate female voters, Republicans!

[liberallibrarian]

06:04 PM on 02/04/2011

Exactly. It's certainly working for me.

[Doctress Julia B]

06:20 PM on 02/04/2011

There are actually NINE DEMOCRATS that also support this bill. So, it's BOTH parties (which are identical in their misogyny!). These men hate us and want to punish us for being raped (as if that's not punishment enough!!) This government is broken beyond repair.

[Big Game Hunter]

12:10 PM on 02/04/2011

Republicans want the government out of your lives. Except at Birth, Marriage, and Death.

[liberallibrarian]

06:06 PM on 02/04/2011

They seem to finally be loosening up a little on the marriage part, but yes. Nice icon. ;)

[onlyaquarterdelusional]

11:22 AM on 02/04/2011

Republicans would stop this nonsense in a heartbeat if the show was on the other foot

theonion.com/articles/lingeriewearing-boehner-we-still-have-a-very-prett,18775/

[madrediterra]

11:17 AM on 02/04/2011

It appears that republican men do not know women who want to have their children. They have to resort to tricks and force to get females to have sex, then use authoritarian laws to coerce them to give birth.

[UberdanSounds]

11:06 AM on 02/04/2011

Republicans are always full of it. They keep spouting "Freedom, we want our Freedom!" Then why are they constantly telling us how we should live our lives?

http://www.credoaction.com/campaign/stop_hr3/index2.html?rc=homepage

[1differentdrummer]

10:41 AM on 02/04/2011

They made their stand, they showed what they really care about. This action, dropping the issue, is just window dressing and PR.

[rustysc]

10:15 AM on 02/04/2011

When is the GOP going to get serious and start working on legislation to create jobs? Enough of this lying about their self thought out "mantra from the people".
Get to work on useful legislation or resign.

[grf67]

05:29 AM on 02/04/2011

The party of "ready, fire, aim" and insufferable loud mouths strikes again. Why does anyone think that these pandering little money grubbers and thumb suckers can fix anything? All they want is money and a three-day work week.

[LolaGetz]

04:36 AM on 02/04/2011

Isn't rape "forcible" by definition? I mean, I've never heard of "consensual" rape.

[Amock]

03:51 AM on 02/04/2011

Where are the JOBS?

[moongal6]

01:29 AM on 02/04/2011

Is it possible for the majority in the People's HOUSE to actually pass some legislation that will HELP the "walkin' around people"?

[citizen of the universe]

01:28 AM on 02/04/2011

"The word 'forcible' will be replaced with the original language from the Hyde Amendment"

HOLD IT!

Republicans are going to use words from an existing law that bans federal money for abortion to create a law to ban federal money for abortion. Am I reading that right?

[rustysc]

10:16 AM on 02/04/2011

That's exactly what I understood.
Wasting taxpayer money on legislation that already exists.

[chalee76]

12:14 PM on 02/04/2011

It actually seeks to make current legislation permanent. The hyde amendment is not a permanent statute. It also includes some new stuff.