House
Republicans on Tuesday make their most concerted effort of the year to change
federal abortion law with legislation that would ban almost all abortions after
a fetus reaches the age of 20 weeks.
The
“Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,” expected to pass by a comfortable
margin late Tuesday, would be a direct challenge to the 1973 Roe v. Wade
Supreme Court decision that legalized abortions up to the time a fetus becomes
viable. Fetal viability is generally considered to be at least 24 weeks into
the pregnancy.
