Election Day.

Oy vey.

So, now what?

Unless you have been living under a rock, you know by now that the Republican Party now controls both houses of Congress. And there is now an intense debate within the GOP about whether or not their party should work with President Obama or not. Of course, Tea Partyers like Ted Cruz want confrontation, they want 100 votes on repealing Obamacare, they want to close down the government if they don’t get their way. The new Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, is really not interested in confrontations because he realizes that the GOP now has to govern if they want their polling numbers to improve (although they really only have one way to go and that is up).

But Mitch is smart and he knows he has to throw a bone or two to his right wing and recently he threw the first bone. Without much fanfare, McConnell recently told them that he will allow the pro-lifers in his party to have a few votes. Specifically, he has assured them that come January, he will let them offer a bill that would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks.

As we know, the vast majority of women obtain abortions in the first trimester. Still, there are thousands of women who feel the need to have an abortion after 20 weeks. Up until the 24th week, they can go to a clinic (if they can find one) and terminate their pregnancy without any questions asked. After that, the circumstances have to be more compelling.

This bill will pass the House of Representatives easily. The question in the Senate is if any pro-choice Senator will filibuster the measure? If they do, then the pro-lifers would have to get 60 votes to pass it. At this point, they may be close to that number but we’re not sure. Then, of course, even if they pass the bill the President gets his shot at it. If the bill is passed on its own, I’d like to think that Obama would veto it. Of course, he would not get into the reasons why women need to have access to abortions that late. He would just argue that it’s unconstitutional under Roe v Wade. Indeed, it would be interesting to see what the pro-choicers argue. Remember they had a similar rhetorical battle when it came to “partial birth abortions” and they totally missed that up because they did not know how to talk about those abortions that occurred between 20-24 weeks. Way too touchy for them. So, they came up with the “these are used in only rare circumstances” line and ultimately got caught with their pants down.

If I were a pro-life lobbyist, I wouldn’t waste my time on this bill. Instead, I would do what they’re doing (successfully) in the states – pass clinic regulations under the guise of “protecting women.” We know by now that such regulations have successfully closed a bunch of clinics in Texas and elsewhere. And I would attach this language to a “must pass” bill like the budget. Imagine the havoc that would ensue if they passed the “Abortion Clinic Regulation Act.”

In addition to passing legislation, they are going to upset the applecart even more by holding hearings on certain issues. When does life begin? Should abortion doctors be required to have admitting privileges in local hospitals? Should the Congress ban sex selection abortions? They now chair the committees, they’re getting ready to go.

So, abortion is going to be one of the issues where Mitch McConnell tries to assuage the right wing extremists. Pro-choicers are going to have their hands full.