Abortion

PRENDA Really Just A Wedge To Overturn Roe?

Not that anyone is surprised, but yes, Franks just wants to provoke a court challenge.

Arizona Rep. Trent Franks believes its his God-given duty as a congressman to write laws for the District of Columbia. At least, that was his justification behind two bills meant to curb abortions in the country’s capitol.

But of course that’s not his real goal. It’s just the easiest way to pass a piece of legislation that would go directly to the Supreme Court and challenge Roe V. Wade. Finally, he’s saying as much in public, too.

Via Buzzfeed:

Franks gave the keynote speech last year at the Frederick Douglass Foundation Leadership Summit, which describes itself as “The Largest Annual Assembly of Christian Black Conservatives in America.” Other speakers included Ryan Bomberger, whose group the Radiance Foundation was behind a Georgia billboard campaign that likened abortion to slavery. In his keynote, Franks said that PRENDA, which he was already championing, “establishes that unborn children are persons, too.” He added, “It might blow a fatal hole in Roe v. Wade.”

Earlier this year Jessica Mason Pieklo and I explained how abortion bans in Washington, D.C. could be used to fast track a challenge straight to the Supreme Court. As long as Republicans control the House, expect more “reasonable, incremental” abortion bills to be proposed for that exclusive purpose.