In recent days, as many as two dozen Republicans had raised concerns with the "Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act" that would ban abortions after the 20th week of a pregnancy. Sponsors said that exceptions would be allowed for a woman who is raped, but she could only get the abortion after reporting the rape to law enforcement.

Republicans finally woke up to the fact that passing abortion bans is not popular and abruptly tabled the big vote they had scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 22, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Here's Ed O'Keefe at the Washington Post Reps. Rene Ellmers (R-NC) and Jackie Walorski (R-IN) led the revolt . Ellmers had cautioned that such a vote would send the wrong message to millennial voters and also said the bill showed "a complete disregard for the women who experience sexual assault."

GOP leadership was particularly wary of taking a vote that would yield a large number of female defectors among their ranks. Just 22 of the 246 House Republicans are women. Having a healthy portion of those female lawmakers vote against the bill would have been an astonishing embarrassment for a party that just keeps on talking about reaching out to female voters.



[A]ides said that leaders were eager to avoid political fallout from a large number of female Republicans voting against an abortion bill in the early stages of the new GOP-controlled Congress.

As an alternative, Republicans still plan to vote Thursday on a bill that would prohibit federal funding for abortions, but the legislation has passed the chamber before and is considered slightly less controversial. The fate of the abortion ban bill is still unclear.

The president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, Ilyse Hogue, was stunned by the news that Republicans had suddenly taken a pass on the abortion ban legislation.



"I never thought I would see the day that the Tea Party-led House of Representatives would wake up to the fact that their priorities — outright abortion bans — are way out of touch with the American people," she said in a statement. "The GOP drafted a bill so extreme and so out of touch with the voters that even their own membership could not support."

Update: The White House issued a veto threat on the abortion bill the House plans to vote on today.

Update 2: House Republicans succeeded in passing a bill to ban federal funding for abortions, 242 to 179.