shortformblog:

• yeah… Today, the House of Representatives voted 246-168 in favor of a bill that would make it illegal for doctors to perform abortions if the sole motivation for the abortion is dissatisfaction with the gender of the fetus.
• but… The bill, nicknamed PRENDA (for Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act), was brought up under a suspension of House rules, thus requiring a two-thirds majority for passage. It was thirty votes shy of that, so it didn’t pass. source

» For and against: The bill’s sponsor, Trent Franks, claims that America is “the only advanced country left in the world that still doesn’t restrict sex-selective abortion in any way.” But Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowski voted against the bill, saying that it ”includes a provision that would allow a women’s husband or parents, by merely alleging that an abortion is because of gender, to seek injunctive relief to prevent the doctor from performing abortion procedures.“ 

Follow ShortFormBlog • Find us on Twitter & Facebook

Bolded for emphasis. It was a bill that allowed people other than the pregnant person to prevent them from getting an abortion. They just did it under the guise of “we’re protecting girl babies!!!” Sex-selective abortion happens in America, but not at a statistically significant rate. We don’t need a law to restrict it, and we certainly don’t need a law that pretends to restrict it while actually punishing pregnant people.