House GOP tries to hijack anti-vaping bill to make it about abortion

House Republicans on Friday tried to hijack a vote on legislation that would ban flavored vaping products that are marketed toward children, and add to it the anti-science “born alive” abortion language the GOP has tried to pass for months.

Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) suggested the last-minute amendment, a stunt which he argued was relevant because of the recently implemented ban on vaping products for “children under the age of 21.”

But the effort to add the anti-abortion language to the bill failed by a vote of 220-187. The anti-vaping bill without the anti-abortion language went on to pass by a vote of 213-195.

Republicans are currently attempting to use anti-abortion votes to hammer Democrats for supporting “infanticide” — a completely false claim, but one Republicans hope will help drum up excitement from the GOP base.

The “born alive” legislation relies on debunked claims that babies are born alive after abortions.

Abortion rights advocates have called out the strategy as an attempt to try to stigmatize patients who have abortions later in pregnancy and discourage doctors from performing the procedure as part of the overall agenda to ultimately ban abortion.

“The bill maligns and vilifies providers and patients to push a false narrative about abortion later in pregnancy,” Kristyn Brandi, a doctor and board member of Physicians for Reproductive Health, told Vox News.

And there are already many laws in place that assert murder is illegal — making the bill unnecessary.

Attorney and professor Neil Siegel told Politifact, “There is no lack of statutory or constitutional law that would protect babies through a live birth or a failed abortion.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tried to pass similar legislation last week — putting this to a vote while sitting on hundreds of other House-passed bills on prescription drug pricing, election security, and gun control — but he also failed.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.