A hearing over a federal ban on funding for abortions featured a line of questioning for a pro-choice advocate on what can and cannot be done to puppies.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, asked pro-choice advocate Kierra Johnson whether states outlaw the killing of puppies. King made the comments during a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee's constitution subcommittee about the Hyde Amendment, which prevents federal funds from going toward abortion services.

"If one were to be there at the delivery of a litter of puppies and as a puppy was partially delivered took a device and crushed a skull and sucked the brains out of that puppy, would you be committing a crime in most states?" King asked Johnson.

"I couldn't speak to what is considered a crime with puppies," Johnson said, appearing to be confused over the query.

King then asked Johnson to research it and come back with a response.

"I could — and I could — also talk to you about the research and anecdotal information I have about black communities," said Johnson, the executive director of the pro-choice group URGE, or Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity.

King said that information would be valuable but not the subject of the hearing. Earlier he questioned why abortion is not being called genocide by the African-American community due to the high level of abortions carried out by African-Americans.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the overall abortion rate in 2012, the latest year of data available, was 13 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 years old. Black women had the highest abortion rate with 27.8 abortions per 1,000 women.

King told Johnson that the answer is that it is illegal in states to kill puppies in the manner he described.

"The contrast is that as it stands you cannot do to a puppy what is now currently legal to do to a baby created in the image of God," he said.

The procedure King described is used in partial-birth abortions, which are banned in the U.S.

The hearing comes as the partisan divide over abortion is growing. The Democratic Party's platform called for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, a move it has shied away from in recent years.

Republicans this year have tried to block federal funding to Planned Parenthood, upset over a series of undercover videos that show officials discussing the harvesting and donation of aborted fetal tissue. It is illegal to profit from the sale of aborted fetal tissue under federal law.