A new bill proposed by Arizona Republican Congressman Trent Franks, the “District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,” aims to prevent women in D.C. from getting abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, claiming that after that point fetuses can feel pain.
A federal spending bill pushed through the House of Representatives by Republicans in mid-December already prohibits the use of government funds to assist low-income women in getting abortions. This means that any Medicaid coverage a family might have cannot be used on abortions in the District. Franks would take this federal intrusion into local D.C. politics a step further.
The question of a woman’s right to choose is largely immaterial in this debate—the issue here is yet another federal violation of D.C. home rule, and the rights of District residents to their own governmental representation. Last year, five states passed similar legislation to Franks’s, but each time it was a state issue, and not one over which the national government had any jurisdiction.
Franks represents an Arizona district that is 85 percent white, overwhelmingly conservative, and wealthier than average. It is impossible to believe he should have any say over local issues in D.C., whose residents did not elect him and, for the most part, probably have never heard of him.
Once again, House Republicans are using the District as a bargaining chip to score points with constituents at the cost of D.C. citizens. Washingtonians still lack the ability to control their own spending, but for D.C. women, this bill means further restrictions on their abilities to choose the path of their pregnancy by a Congress in which they have no meaningful representation whatsoever.
Different stances on abortion aside, every American should be united in the belief that we elect officials to represent our interests. If Franks feels so strongly about abortion in the District, he should appeal to the D.C. Council with his ideas. Of course, they would be summarily rejected, for they are completely out of step with the needs of Washingtonians, but this only highlights the abhorrently undemocratic nature of this bill.
Attacks on D.C. home rule will not cease until District residents have appropriate representation in Congress through statehood or some other legal change. This autocratic wrinkle in the American political system undermines all of the ideals which our government is supposed to embody. Until equal representation for D.C.’s 625,000 inhabitants is achieved, the rest of Congress and the President must step up to the plate to combat this and other despicable betrayals of D.C. home rule and the American democratic promise.
