Last week, the GOP backed down from its attempt to limit the definition of rape under federal abortion law. But hold your applause: While the Republican leadership was removing the controversial "forcible rape" provision from the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act," Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) was busy slipping a provision into a related bill, the "Protect Life Act," that could prove just as controversial.
Supporters of abortion rights say Pitts' latest effort would allow doctors and hospitals to refuse to perform any abortion, even one that was needed to save the life of a pregnant woman. A Pitts spokesman told Talking Points Memo on Friday that the bill simply clarifies existing law and suggested that the new measure does not go beyond current law. (That's the same claim that defenders of the "forcible rape" language made before ultimately scrapping it.) But contra Pitts' attempt to downplay the new provision, a close look shows that it may change what hospitals are required to do in the very rare cases when an abortion is needed to save a woman's life—and the provision itself may even be unconstitutional.
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