The House Republicans have backed off the incendiary language of “forcible” rape in H.B. 3.  However, what we need to pay attention to is how quickly Chris Smith and the conservatives were willing to compromise on this point.  There is a bigger picture–the bill, even stripped of the “forcible” rape language, is an incredibly bad piece of legislation for women.  It will still narrow exceptions for public funding of abortion and it will still interfere in private insurance coverage of abortion care.  While there is a small victory in the Republicans agreeing to remove the redefinition of rape, we need to keep up the pressure until H.B. 3 is off the table entirely.

To contact your House Rep. about H.B. 3, you can go here.

And for a little satirical relief, here is Jon Stewart and Kristen Schaal discussing H.B. 3 last night.