Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.)

No real surprise here—the House Judiciary Committee voted yesterday to approve a bill that would ban abortions in D.C. after 20 weeks, reports Roll Call.

The legislation was introduced by Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) in January, and he ushered it through a House committee hearing and markup in recent months, in the process rejecting a request from D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton that she be allowed to speak against it during a hearing. A number of states have similar restrictions in place, under the premise that after 20 weeks fetuses can feel pain.

D.C. voting rights advocates loudly complained that Franks was picking on D.C., a charge he didn’t specifically deny when he told the Huffington Post that it was his responsibility to legislate for the city.

In response, D.C. supporters protested at Franks’ district office in Arizona and demonstrated outside his office on Capitol Hill, where they tried to ask him to handle more pedestrian D.C. concerns like trash pickups and potholes. (He locked his door and refused to answer the phone.)

“Representative Trent Franks should be ashamed of himself for trying to impose his personal political agenda upon a group of Americans that have no vote in the Congress,” said Ilir Zherka, executive director of DC Vote in a statement. “He is clearly motivated by the desire to please special interest groups, so much so that he is willing to set aside his stated principles as a small government conservative. The Judiciary Committee vote in favor of this bill violates fundamental principles of democracy. Ultimately, we believe Franks’ efforts will fail.”

While Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has introduced a companion bill in the Senate, it is unlikely to pass there or receive President Obama’s signature.