GOP Victory Sets the Stage for Anti-Abortion Push in 2015

The last time major antiabortion legislation cleared Congress, President Barack Obama was still a little-known state senator in Illinois.

Now, for the first time since the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act was passed in 2003, outlawing a late-term procedure, the antiabortion movement sees opportunity on Capitol Hill as the GOP prepares to take charge of the U.S. Senate.

At the top of the agenda: legislation that would ban abortions at 20 weeks of pregnancy or later, pushing the legal boundaries set by the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. Activists on both sides of the debate are gearing up for a fight that will demonstrate the consequences of Republican gains in the 2014 election.

“Unfortunately there has been gridlock on the abortion issue in Washington,” said Penny Nance, president of Concerned Women for America, a religious conservative group. She added: “This is going to be a put-up-or-shut-up moment.”

Opponents say the measure attempts to chip away at abortion rights that are guaranteed under Roe and is aimed at striking down the landmark ruling.

The 20-week abortion ban is based on the contested assertion that a fetus can feel pain at that stage of development. A bill called the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act passed the GOP-led House in 2013 but never came up for a vote in the Senate.

“There’s no reason our constituents should be kept from having their voices heard on the issue in the Senate, as well,” Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), the incoming Senate majority leader, told The Wall Street Journal through a spokesman last week. “I look forward to having the Senate consider similar legislation in the next Congress.”

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