House GOP seeks political footing on abortion ahead of annual March for Life

House Republican leaders are rallying around two anti-abortion bills ahead of the annual March for Life, though neither seek to limit abortion on a national scale and instead focus on unwanted pregnancies and pregnancy centers.

The bills, which passed the House Thursday, match the theme of this year’s event but also underscore the desire of GOP leaders to avoid votes on controversial messaging legislation that would impose strict abortion limits.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Pro-Life Caucus Chair Chris Smith (R-N.J.) are both set to address the March for Life on Friday, the largest anti-abortion event in the country. Johnson’s rise to Speaker was cheered by social conservatives, who viewed him as an ally willing to bring anti-abortion and anti-transgender policies up for a vote.

Johnson is one of the most culturally conservative lawmakers to be elected Speaker in years, and he is unabashed in his faith-driven approach to politics.

But faced with a narrow majority and a conference divided between hard-liners and vulnerable swing-district members, he has said that votes on social issues like abortion are not going to be a front-and-center part of the House GOP agenda.

There is no indication that Republicans could bring up a federal abortion ban measure in this Congress — breaking with the trend of Republicans passing 20-week abortion ban measures three times in the past when they held the House majority.

During a press conference earlier this week, Johnson referenced the march being the impetus for the vote on legislation he characterized as pro-family, rather than anti-abortion.

“We’ll take this week, as we do each year, to remember the value of every single human life,” Johnson said. “We believe that it’s important to stand by families during unplanned pregnancies … We want to make it easier for working mothers and moms and dads to start and raise a family.”

Thursday’s bills are backed by anti-abortion groups and give Republicans an opportunity to tout their anti-abortion credentials without directly subjecting moderates to votes on abortion restrictions. The White House has threatened to veto both measures.

One bill aims to address what supporters said are pressures that force college students with unplanned pregnancies into having abortions to avoid academic failure.

It would require colleges and universities to provide information about the existing rights of pregnant students and require the schools to ensure that lists of resources available for pregnant students include pregnancy centers that don’t provide abortion. 

The other bill would require the Department of Health and Human Services to fund crisis pregnancy centers. A Biden administration policy excludes pregnancy centers from receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds.

Pregnancy centers are usually faith-based organizations that try to dissuade women from having abortions. They are often not staffed by licensed medical professionals, so they don’t offer women a full range of health care like birth control or prenatal care.

“We thank all of the pro-life members in the House who stood up to the pro-abortion Biden administration, to fight on behalf of pregnancy centers nationwide and women on college campuses who are experiencing an unplanned pregnancy,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement.

This year’s March for Life theme — ‘With every woman, for every child’ — focuses on promoting crisis pregnancy centers and maternity homes, which provide women, usually those experiencing homelessness, with resources and a place to live during pregnancy and the postpartum period.

Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, said pregnancy centers and maternity homes are “at the heart of the pro-life movement.”

But House Republicans are still grappling internally with how to deal with abortion heading into the 2024 election.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said he wasn’t concerned about needing more anti-abortion votes.

“We’ve already got Roe v. Wade overturned, it’s up to the states. So I think we’re moving in the right direction,” Burchett said, adding that Johnson has only been Speaker for about three months. “It’s not like he’s been here 20 years like his predecessor, so I give him a little grace period. I know he’s pro-life.”

Ahead of last year’s March for Life, House Republicans scuttled a vote on a measure that would have permanently codified and expanded the Hyde Amendment, a provision that prohibits certain federal funds from being used on abortion procedures.

Instead, they passed a resolution condemning attacks on anti-abortion centers and churches and a bill to require care to be given to an infant who survives an abortion procedure — a measure Democrats said was unnecessary not only because a live birth is extremely unlikely but also because laws already exist to protect an infant in that circumstance.

Democrats indicated they won’t let vulnerable Republicans off the hook, calling out both bills as examples of a GOP anti-abortion agenda.

“Unfortunately, we’re once again wasting time this week on extreme MAGA culture wars,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the ranking member of the House Rules Committee, calling both bills “part of Republicans’ ongoing push to ban abortion nationwide.”

“House Republicans are constantly reminding voters of their crusade towards a nationwide abortion ban,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Nebeyatt Betre said in a statement. “As long as House Republicans continue to go after women’s constitutional freedoms, House Democrats will be here fighting tooth and nail to protect our rights.”

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