House Republicans Pass Watered Down Abortion Bill

Political parties, for those who fall in love with them, will always jilt you in the end. The Republicans have leaned on the right to life community for years, and though the party has maintained its fidelity on the issue, it has not delivered much in the way of substance. Granted, the Supreme Court has retrained the legislative options.

Given the Republican takeover of Congress last November, and the March for Life this week, the table was set for significant pro-life legislation. In particular, the Republicans were going to bring a vote that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the belief that a 20 week old fetus can feel pain. After some shenanigans, that did not happen. The leadership pulled the bill and eventually passed a very different bill altogether.

The sticking point was over rape or incest exceptions. The bill contained exceptions for cases for severe health, rape, or incest, but women claiming the rape exception would be granted it only if they reported the crime to appropriate authorities. To be clear, women would still have a virtually unrestricted ability to obtain an abortion before 20 weeks, but for those seeking them after 20 weeks, the exceptions would be relevant. So, the rape reporting requirement would only become meaningful for a woman who had not yet reported the crime to authorities and had waited until after 20 weeks of the pregnancy to obtain an abortion.

The Washington Post has the story here. For a different take, see this piece. The politics of the bill appear very cloudy. Seemingly, some of those who supported a similar bill previously only now are objecting to the exceptions, though they did not object before. It highlights the complexity of abortion for Republicans, especially as they consider the consequences of running against Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Rubio is Getting Ready to Run

Speaking of 2016, ABCNews is reporting that Marco Rubio is sending all of the signals of someone running for the presidency. He is hiring upper-tier staff and setting a travel schedule for early primary and caucus states.

Rubio is a skilled politician with the right media presence to be a formidable candidate. If he is able to win his home state of Florida, that is a massive plus for Republicans, assuming he makes it to the general election. I will lodge my reservations, however. He is simply too unseasoned to be president. Critics might argue that he will have had more experience than President Obama did when he became president. This is true, but is that the argument conservatives want to make? Unless you are convinced that, in the end, Barack Obama was indeed prepared to be president, using him as a standard seems odd. Additionally, Rubio will have to be very precise with his views on immigration if he hopes to get through the field.

I know that political timing is never ideal and this may be Rubio’s best chance, but this highlights the key difference between campaigning and governing. Governing, after all, is the thing we should be most concerned about, not the campaigning.

Ex-UNC Athletes Bringing Suit

In a story that should not go away, two former UNC athletes are bringing a suit against their alma mater, claiming the university did not do enough to make sure athletes were getting a quality education. Though the suit is on behalf of a two students, it will likely expand to be a class action against the university.

For those unaware, North Carolina is embroiled in a scandal over no-show classes where athletes were given independent studies that required little to no work. With a perfunctory review, high grades were granted and athletes were kept eligible in the process. It is a mess. Those outside of academia should be prepared for more of these kinds of stories. There is little doubt that such travesties occur at far too many universities that lose the ability to balance athletics and academics.