House GOP introduces 2 anti-abortion bills

House Republicans turned their focus to abortion on Thursday, introducing two bills to ban federal funding for the procedure.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) called the measures necessary, even though President Barack Obama signed an executive order last year that bars federal funding for the procedure.

“Clearly, there is an awful lot of doubt as to where the administration really is on this issue,” Boehner said. “I think the will of the people is that we enact this clear-cut prohibition on the use of taxpayer funds for elective abortions.”

When asked about Democrats’ statements that the health care law is free of any funds for abortions, he said “They claim that it is.”

Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) introduced the two bills. Smith’s is an overarching ban. Pitts’ forbids any funding for the health care reform law to be spent on abortions, a measure similar to an amendment that Boehner lamented did not make it into the final bill last year.

“It is imperative that the federal government stays out of the business of subsidizing the morally objectionable practice of abortion. Abortion is not health care,” Pitts said Thursday morning.

Pitts said it is important to pass a ban in Congress, setting to rest any fears that federal funds could slip past Obama’s order.

“President Obama himself agreed with these goals and even issued an executive order trying to prove his support for prohibiting federal funding of abortion,” Pitts said. “If he chooses to stand by his word he should have no problem signing these two bills into law.”