It took Marco Rubio only a few days to return to the spotlight on another controversial issue.
Urged by anti-abortion rights groups and Republican lawmakers to take up their cause, the Florida senator is mulling over introducing legislation to ban abortions after 20 weeks nationally — just a few days after he helped pass a comprehensive immigration bill that created waves among conservatives.
But there’s one major difference between the star Republican’s lead role on immigration and his potential abortion action. The abortion bill is most likely going nowhere in the Senate.
If a 20-week abortion ban is introduced in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has no intention of scheduling the bill for floor action, a leadership aide said Monday. The bill might not even get its day in committee. But anti-abortion rights backers think sponsorship by Rubio, a possible 2016 GOP presidential nominee, would be enough to bring the issue into a national media focus — whether or not there is a floor fight.
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Rubio has not been in contact with his office about sponsoring the legislation and is in Florida until Tuesday, an adviser said, adding that there are many other Republican senators also interested in sponsoring the legislation. But because of a story last week by The Weekly Standard — which reported that Rubio had signed on as the bill’s lead sponsor — Rubio is now widely expected to have some role shepherding the bill. He will return to the Capitol Tuesday to face loads of questions on his plans regarding the legislation.
If he does sponsor the legislation, Rubio may earn back some of the goodwill he lost with some of the conservatives who were irked by his star turn in spearheading the landmark immigration bill to legalize the country’s 11 million undocumented immigrants.
The Weekly Standard ran its story without a comment from Rubio’s office, and the adviser “couldn’t confirm” the story to the publication even when they eventually talked.
“When I did talk to them, I told them the same thing I told everyone: ‘[Pro-life groups] have been asking since April,’” the adviser told POLITICO on Monday.
The bill would be largely in line with Rubio’s abortion rights stance, including his co-sponsorship of a bill from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) that would ban 20-week abortions in the District of Columbia. Senate Republican leaders aren’t yet sure whether they will sign onto the 20-week abortion ban bill, although the Lee bill has the support of 33 Senate Republicans, including every GOP leader. That bill has an exception for the health of the mother.
Supporters of the effort think the bill can put the Republican Party on the offensive on an issue that has sparked high-profile missteps from GOP candidates. They think Rubio will be an eloquent and powerful voice that will contrast favorably with inartful and controversial comments on abortion last year from GOP Senate candidates Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock.
Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), whose own anti-abortion rights bill passed the House in June, said Rubio would be an “extremely articulate, pro-life figure” to spearhead Senate legislation. Franks took his own lumps after he said “the instance of rape resulting in pregnancy is very low” and was sidelined during the bill’s debate.
But days later, Franks was still laser-focused on his anti-abortion rights efforts, strolling over to the Senate during the historic passage of the chamber’s immigration bill to have a “face-to-face” conversation with Rubio about the abortion issue, which Franks said “Marco cares about deeply, personally.”
“He would be really an ideal person to carry this bill for a vast variety of reasons. He has a profile from the Senate that would make it more difficult in my judgment for the senate leadership to try to suppress or avoid voting on the bill,” Franks said. “Marco Rubio is someone that has become heroic to many in the Republican Party.”saying “the instance of rape resulting in pregnancy is very low. ”
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony List, says an introduction by Rubio would help GOP senators unify around the issue and put Democrats in a tough spot.
“It’s the right thing to do, and it’s the politically smart thing to do,” Dannenfelser said, adding that she hopes Republican Sens. Deb Fischer of Nebraska and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire also take strong roles. “For the first time in an election cycle in a while, it’s the Republicans that are in the offensive position. It’s time to change that dynamic where they were constantly on the defense.”
Dannenfelser said the Democratic leader’s instinct to keep a bill off the floor is savvy because it would protect red-state Democratic senators up for reelection in 2014 from taking a tough vote.
“Look at Kay Hagan, look at Mary Landrieu, do they want to vote on this? I don’t think so,” she said.
The Susan B. Anthony List, along with other anti-abortion rights groups, has been pushing Rubio to introduce the bill as the issue of abortion has been at the top of the news cycle because of Wendy Davis’s high-profile filibuster of an abortion restrictions bill in Texas and a slew of state-passed bills from North Carolina to Arkansas to Wisconsin. The National Right to Life Committee declined to comment on Monday after its legislative director said Rubio would be a “wonderful chief sponsor” of the bill last week.
Republican strategist Ana Navarro said if Rubio sponsors the abortion bill, it won’t be for political gain or to pressure Democrats into a tough vote. She says everyone is reading too much into the potential presidential candidate’s every move.
“Every time Marco takes a breath or blinks two times, people theorize about what his political calculations are. I’m sure this will be no different. But knowing Marco, I think his biggest motivator here is his principles and faith,” Navarro wrote in an email.
People “will smirk and roll their eyes and say it’s a blatant political move, but as corny as it may sound, I think Marco puts his faith and relationship with God above politics,” she added.
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