Today, the House of Representatives passed a landmark piece of legislation that will ban abortion procedures past 20 weeks.
All of the state’s delegation in the House voted in favor of the late-term abortion ban, except for Rep. Cedric Richmond (R-LA). The New Orleans Democrat joined all but four Democrats in voting against the ban.
Shockingly, four Republicans voted against the late-term abortion ban as well, which attempts to ban abortions past the time period from when the unborn child can actually feel pain.
Those four Republicans include:
Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA)
Rep. Robert Dold (R-IL)
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ)
Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY)
Richmond was expected to vote against the late-term abortion ban, as he has voted against similar measures back in 2012 and 2013.
There were also four Democrats who broke ties with the larger Democratic majority, voting in favor on abortions where the unborn child can feel pain. Those Democrats include:
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX)
Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL)
Rep. James Langevin (D-RI)
Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN)
The bill was passed on the second anniversary of the conviction of former abortionist Kermit Gosnell. Gosnell was found guilty after murdering infants that were born alive during an abortion and negligence after an abortion patient died under his watch.
Similar legislation was passed back in 2013 by the House, but was never introduced in the Senate, which was once controlled by Democrats.
While pro-life Republicans do have a majority in the Senate, they still have to have Democrat support to reach 60 votes to stop a possible filibuster initiated by Senate Democrats.
Editor’s Note: This article previously mentioned that the legislation was likely to pass the Senate. However, the bill does not yet have the 60 votes needed to pass.
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