As far as I'm concerned the larger topic is the Hyde Amendment which was (and is) an overt attempt to limit access to abortion by people who would like abortion to be outlawed but know they can't legally do so. (Hyde said as much.)
When the Hyde Amendment was first enacted, it made no exceptions in the case of rape or incest. So this measure is a partial step back to that.
I think the correct solution is to do away with the Hyde Amendment altogether (but the GOP wants to make it permanent law rather than a rider to each year's budget as it has been almost since Roe v. Wade). I think it's wrong that federal budgets are influenced so strongly by what is essentially a minority religious opinion.
I agree, but I'll add judicial confusion to the inevitable right wing hissy fit as a reason why Hyde and related abortion-restriction actions won't be challenged.
The problem is two-fold, one structural, the other de facto:
1) The Constitutional protection for abortion is textually weak.
2) The current federal court system, from top to bottom, is loaded with right wingers.
Problem #1 means that there are a certain number of judges who believe that abortion
should be legal will still rule against it based on how they interpret the law. What needs to happen is a Constitutional amendment that lays out the privacy rights that have been found latent in the Bill of Rights (contraception, abortion...etc.) so there is no controversy.
Problem #2 means that pro-choice activists are scared to challenge this bullcrap in the court system. Add in the fact that the current SCOTUS has shown a willingness to generate broad decisions, and any court challenge of this nonsense could very easily result in an over-turning of the entire line of pro-choice decisions.
As is always the case, we have ended up with the government we deserve because we're a none-too-bright nation filled with emotional religious nuts.