This week, the House Committee on the Judiciary had its first hearing on H.R. 3 (the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act) and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce had its first hearing on H.R. 358 (the Protect Life Act).  The hearings went as expected, with the Republican ideologues focusing on anything but the women whose health and welfare they are endangering and whose rights they are trying to take away.  Below is some of the commentary from around the internet on the hearings.

H.R. 3 Hearing:

• Rep. Jerrold Nadler exposes the Republican hypocrisy concerning government subsidies (namely, tax deductions)–subsidies are only public funding when they are being used in a way that Republicans don’t like.

• Rep. Steve King spent his allotted time describing what he refers to as “dismemberment” abortion–no, he does not have a medical degree, let alone a college degree [Huffington Post]
• Chairman Trent Franks refused to allow Washington DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton to testify on how the legislation would affect her constituents [NBC Washington]
• Despite saying they were going to remove the “forcible” rape language, it still remains in the legislation [Huffington Post

H.R. 358 Hearing:

• The House Democrats argued that the bill does much more than permanently extending the status quo of the Hyde Amendment [Washington Post]
• Vicki Saporta from the National Abortion Federation illustrates how H.R. 358′s conscience law would kill women [The Hill]