Portman, Cruz, and Rubio are Leading the charge to get a Senate Debate and Vote on Abortion Ban after 20 Weeks

It reads like a who’s who of the next generation of Republican Party leaders: Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Rob Portman. 

But what is bringing all these marquee political names together is not the Iowa State Fair or a Tea Party rally on the National Mall. Rather, they are all talking about how to advance a bill in the Senate to ban abortion at 20 weeks after fertilization. 

A similar ban passed the House last month, and Senate Democrats quickly pronounced it dead on arrival in their chamber. It is almost certain to be defeated there, and even if it were not, President Obama would veto it. But backers of the ban are eager to bring to the floor of the Senate the same impassioned debate over abortion that has been taking place in state legislatures around the country.

Plans under discussion among the staff members of a handful of Republican senators and antiabortion groups would involve bringing the measure up for a vote, probably as part of debate over a spending measure, sometime after Congress returns from its August recess. Because of the Senate’s porous rules for introducing amendments, people on both sides of the issue say they believe a vote is more than likely if the legislation comes together. 

[...]

Republicans are hardly unanimous about the wisdom of entangling themselves in a national battle over abortion rights; many believe that the party should remain focused on addressing economic issues and fighting Obama’s health care overhaul. 

“I’m focused on energy, the economy, and what’s happening with the president’s health care law,” said Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, a member of the Republican leadership. Asked whether he thought abortion was a distraction for his party, he stuck to a popular Republican refrain: “I’m completely focused on jobs, the economy, the health care law.”

Democrats, meanwhile, are wary of the damage that a “no” vote on second-trimester abortion restrictions could inflict on some of their more vulnerable senators up for reelection in 2014, particularly in Arkansas, Louisiana, and North Carolina, where legislatures have recently imposed strict limits. On Friday, the governor of North Carolina said he would sign into law new regulations on abortion clinics.

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