Arizona Congressman Leads Effort to Restrict Abortions in Washington D.C.

The Washington Post: Trent Franks leading effort to restrain abortion in D.C., by Mike DeBonis:

The District has been cast in a Capitol Hill morality play, thanks to Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) and the National Right to Life Committee.

Franks, with the backing of the activist group, is leading an effort to put new restrictions on abortions performed in the city via the “District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.” The bill, which Franks introduced Monday, would prohibit abortions 20 weeks post-fertilization.

It represents, as Franks put it, “a different angle of view” on the abortion issue as it relates to the District. Until now, Congress has generally limited its intervention to preventing the D.C. government from funding abortions with public money. The Franks bill goes further, seeking to ban some abortions regardless of who pays for them. . . .