House Advances CIANA, Anti-Abortion Bill, Without Rape Or Incest Exceptions

The House Judiciary Committee voted 20-13 on Tuesday to advance a bill that would make it a crime for anyone but a parent to accompany a young woman outside of her home state to have an abortion. The committee rejected several proposed amendments that would have provided exceptions for victims of rape or incest, women facing threats to their health, and grandparents and older siblings trying to accompany their family members to abortion clinics.

The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA), sponsored by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), imposes a prison term of up to a year for a doctor who performs an abortion on an out-of-state minor that is not accompanied by a parent. It has 158 cosponsors in the House and a companion bill in the Senate.

"This legislation is based on common-sense," Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement on Monday. "Parents have the right to be involved in their children’s lives."

Opponents of the bill argue that it fails to consider the extenuating circumstances in which a teen would turn to another adult -- such her grandmother or adult sister -- for support, and could force young women to instead turn to unsafe alternatives to terminating her pregnancy.

“Today’s vote has exposed once again anti-choice lawmakers’ deep hostility to women’s rights and indifference to their health and well-being," said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights. "While offering their usual disingenuous claims that they are acting to protect women, they have hypocritically rejected all attempts to add even the bare minimum of measures to safeguard vulnerable young women’s lives."

The bill now moves to a full vote in the House.

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Comments

[Deidentified]

07:40 PM on 04/10/2012

Right-wingers are now claiming that the bill really does have rape and incest exceptions. (See, e.g., http://bit.ly/Iib7ym)

This is actually true.

And by "true" I mean "false". Mostly.

A PHYSICIAN who performs an abortion for a girl who is a victim of PARENTAL abuse will not be prosecuted IF the girl signs a statement about the abuse AND the physician reports the abuse to the proper authorities in the girl's state.

The law has NO PROVISION FOR NON-PARENTAL incest or rape (e.g., by an uncle or a boyfriend) and it DOES NOT EXEMPT THE ADULT TRANSPORTING the girl from legal penalties. It also has no special protections for the girl, who will presumably be identified to her parents as the source of any legal complaints lodged against them by state authorities.

As an aside, the law DOES exempt the adult transporting a minor in cases where the minor's life is endangered, but requires the physician to notify the parents afterwards.

In other words, there are exceptions, but they are so narrow and limited that they are virtually useless.

[Ben Wilson]

10:32 AM on 03/30/2012

It gets very annoying watching a load of men make decisions that affect women. When it comes down to it the advocates simply want to end this stuff because they are worried the white race is dying out and want us to have lots of babies. It is ironic it comes from the same mindset that advocated eugenics.

[Katarzyna Kamienski]

07:30 PM on 05/31/2012

And if it was a bunch of women you'd still be annoyed. You just suck at everything.

[Ben Wilson]

03:57 AM on 06/01/2012

I just suck at everything do I? Well what an extrodinary extrapolation from my verbalisations.

[sylvia wadlington]

05:00 PM on 03/29/2012

The REPUBLICAN PLAN
Make all abortions illegal.
Make all forms of birth control illegal.
Make it illegal for women who have children to work.
Make pregnancy of unmarried women a crime.
Make education of women and minorities a crime.
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS from our government.

[Silverado Lady]

02:50 AM on 03/29/2012

MAYBE, it is time to GET RID of the HOUSE OF NO and just have the Senate, why not, they do not do anything except recycle bills that have ALREADY FAILED.

[sylvia wadlington]

04:59 PM on 03/29/2012

Vote out all republicans from our government so America can get back to work!

[Joseph J Schuler]

08:03 PM on 03/28/2012

I am amazed that there any women stll in the Republican party. They must have tremendous self hate issues.

[Katarzyna Kamienski]

07:34 PM on 05/31/2012

SO YOU ARE SAYING THAT BECAUSE I CANNOT TAKE THE PILL DUE TO HEALTH ISSUES THAT I AM LESS OF A WOMAN?

[Carla van der Meer]

06:23 PM on 03/28/2012

Ros-Lehtinen states that parents have a right to be involved in their children's lives. Why weren't they more involved before? And what about girls whose parents were too involved and will be forced to have a father or grandfathers child? Women deserve the freedom to decide what is right for them.

[Katarzyna Kamienski]

07:35 PM on 05/31/2012

Your comment is stupid and doesn't make any sense.

[Carla van der Meer]

08:07 PM on 05/31/2012

My comment DOES make sense. Every woman should have the control over her own body.

[Katarzyna Kamienski]

07:35 PM on 05/31/2012

Ros-Lehtinen states that cats have a right to be involved in their lives. Why weren't they more involved before? And what about female cats whose parents were too involved and will be forced to have an inbred cat or inbred grandfathers cat? Cats deserve the freedom to decide what is right for them.

[Carla van der Meer]

08:05 PM on 05/31/2012

WTF?

[helenwheels74]

05:35 PM on 03/28/2012

'parents have the right to be involved in their children's lives'... what if the parents are the reason the girl needs an abortion in the first place? sexually abusive father/step-father and the mother just looks the other way and pretends it's not happening. who can that girl turn to for help?

[Katarzyna Kamienski]

07:36 PM on 05/31/2012

She can go inbetween your butt cheeks and smell the stink coming from your anus. That would be a wonderful help.

[GHY1]

04:29 PM on 03/28/2012

Time to abort republicans in the next election

[mysaltydog]

02:50 PM on 03/28/2012

Hey Ileana -- betcha you were elected on a jobs platform. Why not quit and take your 19 teapeople with you. Then you will have created an amazing 20 jobs during your term in office?

[Mary Eyer]

01:32 PM on 03/28/2012

Wait. No exception for INCEST, but the person who accompanies the girl must be a PARENT. Hello???? What perfect world does the GOP inhabit where no fathers commit incest and no mothers are in denial that incest happens?

[helenwheels74]

05:36 PM on 03/28/2012

i just said the same thing... sad world, eh?

[Mary Eyer]

01:29 PM on 03/28/2012

I could almost understand if it limited the offense to girls who are under the age of consent in their state of origin, but any body under 18? This will get some girls physically abused and abandoned.

[sylvia wadlington]

05:08 PM on 03/29/2012

Republicans punish girls who are taken advantage of or forced. It makes no difference to them how some unfortunate minor got pregnant, they just want their pound of flesh. And especially if she's poor, they want at least one of her parents to lose a day or more from work. Republicans are all about punishing people who don't share their moral hipocracy.

[Sandy Werner]

01:05 PM on 03/28/2012

THANK THE GOP FOR "PROTECTING" FEMALES BY VOTING DEMOCRATIC NOVEMBER 2012. JOIN THE NATIONWIDE MARCH AGAINST THE WAR ON WOMEN. GO TO WWW.UNITEWOMEN.ORG FOR YOUR STATE'S INFORMATION. MARCH 4/28/2012.

[Sandy Werner]

01:01 PM on 03/28/2012

They'd rather our daughters die.

[BBackSoon]

12:22 PM on 03/28/2012

Is this really a problem?

[Simplecomplexity]

01:34 PM on 03/28/2012

Only if you're a woman!

[BBackSoon]

02:37 PM on 03/28/2012

No, I mean are there really a lot of under aged girls going across state boarders for a-bortions? Enough to warrant a law explicitly set up to make it more difficult?

This is just more noise from the Right like the problems with Voter Fraud and Blocking Sharia Law becoming the state religion!

[mysaltydog]

02:52 PM on 03/28/2012

Think about it BB... a 12-year-old is raped and made pregnant by her only parent. Seeing how so many teabag states have all but outlawed abortion, the child must go to another state to have the pregnancy terminated. With this law, her father must be the one to accompany her to the clinic. Now you tell me -- is this really a problem?

[BBackSoon]

03:51 PM on 03/28/2012

I understand that it does happen and in the horrible way you outlined, I am simply questioning the need to enact such a law. This cannot be an all day, everyday problem.

[pfreddie88]

12:10 PM on 03/28/2012

and this will help with jobs HOW? Keep it up, folks, we are remembering and we will vote. Bank.on.it.