Abortion is likely to be an important issue in many elections in the United States in 2012. The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. The name of this bill may have been designed to help members of Congress with their re-election campaigns, as current federal law already bans federal funding for abortions. What the bill does is deny tax credits for small businesses if their health insurance policies cover abortion procedures. The current politics of abortion is such that the procedure cannot be banned because of the Roe v. Wade ruling of the United States Supreme Court in 1972. However, members of Congress running for re-election in 2012 will be able to say that they voted for the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. Members of Congress who voted against the act will be accused of favoring federal funding for abortion even when the nation faces a debt crisis.
Members of several state legislatures may also have to defend their voting records on abortion issues. The governor of South Dakota signed a bill last month that requires women who want an abortion to wait 72 hours and undergo counseling first. Legislation is pending in Ohio that would outlaw abortion when a heartbeat can be detected in the fetus. South Dakota is now involved in a lawsuit over the recently passed law. Texas also faces litigation over a law that the governor is expected to sign soon. The law in Texas would require a woman seeking an abortion to first view a sonogram of the unborn child, or read or hear a description of the fetus written by a doctor. Legislators in Iowa want to ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy on the idea that a fetus more than 20 weeks old can feel pain. Oklahoma already has a law that bans abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The governor there just signed a law this week that restricts how doctors can prescribe RU-486, otherwise known as the abortion pill.
Politicians would have to pass an amendment to the United States Constitution or bring a case to the Supreme Court and have the court reverse Roe v. Wade in order to ban abortion outright. Failing that, they seem to be working at dissuading women from the procedure, or making it as difficult as possible.
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