Pelosi: New abortion bill ‘worse’ than last

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is arguing that a new GOP abortion bill is “even worse” than the more contentious legislation that Republicans tabled late Wednesday. 

“If for cosmetic reason, [Republican leaders] thought this was a good idea, now they’re going to a much worse bill and I don’t know what progress there is,” she said at a news conference on Thursday. “This was not a success for women and their reproductive health.”

GOP leaders made a last-minute switch late Wednesday after multiple centrist and female Republicans revolted against the previous bill’s language on rape. The House will consider the new legislation on Thursday, the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. 

“This isn’t about an improvement because of the actions that were taken yesterday,” Pelosi said. “It’s a much broader bill.”

“Obviously, we will be strenuously opposing that legislation,” she said.  

Pelosi said that, unlike the bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks, the new GOP effort to ban federal funding for abortion would affect “millions of women.”

The House was originally scheduled to vote on a bill banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy that only allowed exceptions in the case of reported rape, incest or if the mother’s life is in danger.

The chamber will now vote on an alternative bill that would permanently ban the use of federal funds for abortion. The vote is scheduled to coincide with the annual March for Life, when thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators will descend upon the National Mall.

— This post was updated at 11:14 a.m.