Abortion

D.C.To Issa: No Thanks On Autonomy

When offered the chance to handle their own budget in exchange for permanently banning abortions for low income women, the city said no way.

Chairman Issa. (original img src)

When Rep. Darrell Issa promised to come up with a way for the city of Washington D.C. to have more autonomy over its own budget, the city leaders were excited but wary.

They had reason to be.  The new proposal came with its own stipulation — no more providing funding to low income women wanting an abortion.

Now, the city has a message for Issa — no deal.

Via the Washington Post:

In a joint statement issued Wednesday morning by [Mayor Vincent C.] Gray, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown (D), the leaders said they could not accept the bill, and that they “appreciate” Issa’s attempt to give them the autonomy they seek, noting that the bill includes much of what the city has sought.

“Particularly considering the many good provisions in Chairman Issa’s bill, we regret that we cannot accept it, and would have to strongly oppose it if it were introduced,” they said. “We recognize that the abortion provision is what Chairman Issa believed would be necessary to get the bill passed in the House. But the views of others should not prevail over the views of our own residents. Our opposition to the provision to permanently prohibit the District from spending its local funds on abortion services for low-income women is as strong as the views of those outside our city who support it.”

Was the ban extension meant to kill the bill, or could Republicans just not even begin to propose legislation that doesn’t find a way to somehow stick it to women in the process?  Either way, it’s definitely over for now.