The House defeated a bill today to ban sex-selective abortion, a controversial measure opposed by President Barack Obama and abortion rights activists. The legislation, first introduced by Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) three years ago, would punish doctors with up to five years in prison for performing an abortion if the doctor knows it “is sought based on the sex or gender of the child.”
The bill failed 246-168 under suspension of the rules.
“Ours Members feel strongly about it,” Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters before the vote. “This is an important issue to the American people. This type of sex-selection, most Americans find pretty repulsive.”
Democrats said the bill was no more than a political ploy to force them to make a tough vote that could be held against them on Election Day.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she was joining groups representing health care providers that oppose the bill and suggested it was introduced for political reasons.
“The maker of the motion has said he brought it to the floor for a purpose that was not exactly scientific. So I think it should be treated that way. I will oppose it,” the California Democrat told reporters.
Indeed, Franks acknowledged the bill is a political winner for House Republicans.
“If [Obama] wants to say he favors allowing little girls to be aborted because they’re little girls, I suppose that’s his political prerogative,” Franks said Wednesday. “But I think the last thing the president wants to do is to let the American people know where he really is on this issue of life and death for the innocent.”
The Obama administration has stated its opposition to the bill, a White House spokesman told ABC News on Wednesday.
“The administration opposes gender discrimination in all forms, but the end result of this legislation would be to subject doctors to criminal prosecution if they fail to determine the motivations behind a very personal and private decision,” Deputy Press Secretary Jamie Smith said in a statement. “The government should not intrude in medical decisions or private family matters in this way.”
Females are often the target of abortions based on gender, but the problem is most prevalent in countries such as India and China, where male children are considered more valuable and desirable.
