Stop reading if you’ve heard this before: House Republicans had to make late-night, last-minute changes to a piece of legislation that they thought would pass easily.

This time, the disagreement was over rape and abortion.


Republican leadership late Wednesday evening had to completely drop its plans to pass a bill that bans abortions after 20 weeks, and is reverting to old legislation that prohibits taxpayer funding of abortions.

The evening switch comes after a revolt from a large swath of female members of Congress, who were concerned about language that said rape victims would not be able to get abortions unless they reported the incident to authorities.

The new legislation doesn’t stand a chance to become law, but House Republican leadership wants to have some sort of pro-life bill on the floor Thursday when the anti-abortion March for Life comes to Washington.

The House Rules Committee will convene at 9 p.m. to chart the course for the legislation. It will not become law with President Barack Obama in the White House.

It’s easy to observe that House Republicans have trouble legislating —and there’s ample evidence to point one to that conclusion. Another view, espoused by sympathetic lawmakers and others in GOP leadership, is that the players on the top rungs of the House Republican Conference are paying more mind to moderate voices within the party. It’s too early to label it a trend.

The House leaves for the week Thursday after it passes this bill.

The original legislation was ran into headwinds over the last few weeks. The crux of the complaints had to do with rape. The legislation allowed for abortions in the case of rape —but only if the victim reported the incident to police. Dissenters said Republicans were wrong to introduce divisive social issues into the political debate, and many women took offense to the language that required victims report rapes.

Republicans said they would’ve been able to pass the bill even if they had not changed it, but scores of women would’ve likely voted against it. And, furthermore, Republicans ran the risk of appearing like they were ignoring the will of women in the conference.

It’s no surprise they had no sense of the level of dissent. Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) was not initially whipping the legislation, because it was a matter of conscience, sources said. The women, led by Rep. Renee Ellmers of North Carolina, approached Scalise to push for the change.

The episode again laid bare the fissures within the House Republican Conference, and the leadership’s periodic inability to bring together the party’s wings. Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), one of the bill’s sponsors, likened the discussion over abortion to the Civil War and said the opposition is coming from the “abortion industry.”

Asked about the opposition from within his own party, Franks said, “I’ll let you talk to them about that.”