House readies vote to reverse abortion decision as new GOP interpretation of abortion fuels debate

A pro-life advocate, Catherine Glenn Foster testified in a House hearing on Thursday that a 10-year-old girl who was raped and crossed state lines to have an abortion did not actually have an "abortion," re-orienting the debate around medical exceptions.

She changed the definition for the circumstnaces saying, "it would fall under any [medical] exception and would not be an abortion," reasoning that the pregnancy would impact the child's life.

Taken aback by the logic in her response, Congressman Eric Swallwell clarified the statement saying: “Wait. It would not be an abortion if a 10-year-old, with her parents, made a decision not to have a baby as the result of a rape?”

“If a 10 year old became pregnant as a result of rape, and it was threatening her life, then that’s not an abortion, so it would not fall under any abortion restriction in our nation,” Foster reiterated.

The House Judiciary committee held a hearing in response to the reversal of Roe V. Wade last month.

This particular questions stems from a story about a 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio who crossed state lines to have an abortionthat has become a symbol for the need for access to abortion in extreme situations. to have an abortion days after abortion was banned in her state. Ohio law makes three exceptions: "one to prevent the death of the mother, the second, due to a serious risk of the substantial and irreversible impairment

of a major bodily function of the pregnant mother, and the third in cases of an ectopic pregnancy." There are no exceptions for rape or incest.

If what Foster said is an accurate interpretation of the law, the child's parents would not have had to seek abortion across state lines due to the medical emergency provision. State Attorney Generl Dave Yost confirmed this in an interview Yost said he wanted to correct something that the national media outlets were getting wrong in their coverage of this story. “Ohio’s heartbeat law has a medical emergency exception, broader than just the life of the mother,” he said. “She did not have to leave Ohio for treatment.”

(Yost previously doubted the sotry about the child rape victim until the suspect was arrested.)

The problem with this thinking is the said "procedure" would be acceptable for a child under extremecircumstnaces, but not for a woman facig the same circumstances in a conservative's view. In the post-Roe era the details in the debate about abortion are getting finer. The meaning of abortion is key to the fiht to reverse the Supreme Court decsion to give states the right to determine if and when abortions should be allowed. A legal fiestrom has already been set off as more conservative states resist lifting abortion restictions at all.

The House is expected to vote Friday on legislation that would restore abortion access nationwide after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The legislation stands almost no chance of becoming law, but it marks a new era in the abortion debate.