Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah)

In his official biography, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) describes himself as someone who “fights to preserve America’s proud founding document in the United States Senate. He advocates efforts to support constitutionally limited government, fiscal responsibility, individual liberty and economic prosperity.”

So in the interest of personal freedom and small government, presumably, Lee has introduced a new piece of legislation: the companion bill to Rep. Trent Franks’ (R-Ariz.) recent proposal to prohibit District women from seeking abortions more than 20 weeks after a pregnancy begins.

The “District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act”—Phew, they did not bother burying the lede, did they?—would offer very few exceptions in banning the termination of a pregnancy after five months.

And just why would Lee, a Tea Party favorite who claims to be repulsed at the notion of government oversight, wade into D.C. affairs? Presumably, his justification is the same as Franks, who when introducing the House version of the bill told The Huffington Post:

“Congress has the seminal and incontrovertible responsibility for making legislative policy in the District of Columbia. Those who pretend to question that are in fact trying to direct attention away from the true purpose of this bill, which is to help prevent unborn children beginning at the sixth month of pregnancy and beyond from being subject to the agonizing process of being aborted.”

Yeesh. Some people are never going to get over the end of the Control Board era, are they? Not that Lee was even around then—he was only just elected in 2010. Anyway, just as she did when Franks dropped his bill, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton was quick to denounce Lee’s version:

“Senator Lee had filed only 11 bills a little over a year into his first term before introducing this bill, so I am sure that his constituents would prefer bills that signal that he is focused on the needs of his Utah constituents instead of interfering with the business of another jurisdiction.

…

Senator Lee is trying to undemocratically usurp local authority outside his own state in violation of every founding principle of local control, and at the same time to introduce the idea that basic constitutional rights depend on where a citizen lives. There can be no justification for denying the federal-taxpaying residents of the nation’s capital the same rights as other American citizens.”

In his 13 months as a U.S. senator, much of Lee’s body of legislative work has focused on reducing the amount of federally owned land, such as a conveyance of 32 acres from the U.S. Forest Service to Alta, Utah, so the ski town could build a new community center and firehouse. He also opens his office each Wednesday for a Jell-O party. That’s limited government in action.