Two big headlines dealing with abortion hit us this week, in two branches of the government.

In the House of Representatives, a bill that would have required doctors to offer women painkiller for the fetus before performing an abortion failed. The bill also would have required doctors to distribute a pamphlet saying a fetus feels pain after five months. Surprisingly, the Republican-controlled House couldn’t get a two-thirds majority vote on the bill. That will pretty much be the end of that, at least for awhile, as the Democrats have taken control of Congress.

Over in the judicial branch, a confessed murderer of a doctor who performs abortions, John Kopp, will be heading to federal court after a judge in Buffalo rejected his motion to dismiss the case. He has prepared his own defense in prison, where he already sits a 25-year term for a 1998 murder. One of his many arguments to dismiss the case was that he had shot the doctor to save the lives of many unborn fetuses, but the prosecutor reminded him that actions to prevent legal behavior don’t serve as a defense. The judge additionally ruled that in the trial, the defendant is not allowed to discuss religious or moral objections to abortion, and no anti-abortion photographs, clothing, or other paraphernalia is allowed. Seems like an attempt to make the case less issue-based and more law-based and focused on the murder itself.