Renee Ellmers is Wendy Davis with Less Panache

It appears now that the House has permanently shelved the Pain-Capable Unborn Children Protection Act and that Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC)Heritage ActionScorecardRep. Renee EllmersHouse Republican AverageSee Full Scorecard51% is largely to blame (although several other weak-spined Republicans do not deserve to be overlooked). For a frame of reference, this is the federal version of virtually the exact same bill that Wendy Davis became famous for filibustering. Wendy Davis’ filibuster failed and the effort cost her a reasonable chance at winning the governorship. Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC)Heritage ActionScorecardRep. Renee EllmersHouse Republican AverageSee Full Scorecard51%, however, has succeeded where Wendy Davis could not, and has safely protected late-term abortions. She does not, however, look nearly as good in pink sneakers.

The stupidity of Ellmers, et al on this issue can not be overstated. Quinnipiac polled this issue less than three months ago. The text of the question asked was remarkably accurate as to the text of the effect of the bill: “As you may know, in 2013 the House of Representatives approved legislation that would ban virtually all abortions nationwide after 20 weeks of pregnancy, except in cases of rape and incest that are reported to authorities. Would you support or oppose such legislation?” The answers indicated that the bill was not controversial at all, enjoying support among the population at large by an astounding margin of 60-33, among women by a margin of 59-35, and among voters aged 18-29 by a margin of 57-38.

Passing this bill and forcing Obama to veto it would have been a major victory in terms of exposing the extremism of the national Democratic party. All voters could have seen how beholden they are to the total absence of restrictions on abortion, even restrictions that are favored by 2/3 of all Americans. This was another prime opportunity to place Republicans in the mainstream and the Democrats outside of it in the public’s eye.

Instead, the news cycle now reads that this completely noncontroversial and popular bill (with women!) was killed because of a “revolt among female GOP congresswomen.” So guess what – now not only does the bill not go forward, but it has become controversial. Ellmers’ stupid and ill-informed puling has actually made the bill controversial and furthermore fed the completely false narrative that this is an issue that women in general oppose. In other words, Ellmers has not only defeated the bill itself, she has set the entire cause back by a measurable amount. Her bizarre statements over the last 12 hours of the bill’s life where she pretended to support the bill after she had already personally done all the damage necessary to kill it were of no help at all.

Pro-lifers are not going to forget this monumentally stupid and pointless betrayal by Ellmers. I am personally going to donate to and volunteer for any opponent she has in 2016, either Republican or Democrat. So far as I am able to determine it, Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC)Heritage ActionScorecardRep. Renee EllmersHouse Republican AverageSee Full Scorecard51% is currently serving her last term in Congress, and I am not nearly the only one who feels this way. Ellmers has also betrayed fiscal conservatives and border hawks. If Ellmers wants to stay within convenient distance of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)Heritage ActionScorecardRep. Kevin McCarthyHouse Republican AverageSee Full Scorecard40% on a regular basis, she’d better start lining up her DC lobbying job for after this term is over.

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