Overnight Healthcare: GOP vows abortion bill will be back

House Republican leaders say they are committed to bringing back a controversial abortion bill that was abruptly pulled from floor consideration late Wednesday. "We're going to bring this bill back. This is a fight that's not over. We’re going to continue working to get this bill passed," House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) told The Hill on Thursday. Separately, Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), one of the sponsors of the pulled bill, said leadership gave him their "word of honor" the measure will get floor action. House leaders decided late Wednesday to shelve Franks's bill banning late-term abortions and replace it with a less contentious measure prohibiting federal dollars from funding abortions. The bill’s collapse, which largely happened behind closed doors, came after a small group of Republican centrists, led by women, voiced concerns with the bill’s requirement that rape victims go to police to report their crime. Read more here. ANTI-ABORTION GROUPS STILL CLAIM VICTORY... Anti-abortion advocates claimed a win after a key House vote prohibiting federal funding of abortions on Thursday even as they licked their wounds from a blow dealt by GOP leadership just hours before. "This is another victory for taxpayers, women, and their unborn children," Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council, wrote in a statement. The country’s largest anti-abortion groups have mostly held their tongue on House leadership despite the GOP's last-minute decision to table their signature bill. Despite the embarrassing and high-profile defeat, anti-abortion advocates were careful to voice disappointment, not fury, while continuing to back House leaders. Read more here. ... AS DO ABORTION RIGHTS GROUPS: Abortion rights groups are seizing on a split in the Republican Party highlighted Wednesday, after House leadership made a last-minute retreat and pulled a bill to ban late-term abortions. The head of Planned Parenthood Action Fund said the GOP's reversal on the abortion bill is proof that the issue — crucial to conservatives — is losing ground. Read more here. ELECTION FALLOUT: The Republicans responsible for delaying a controversial abortion bill that was abruptly pulled from floor consideration late Wednesday are on notice from conservative activists in 2016. Anti-abortion advocates say primary challenges could be in the cards for those who worked to stall a bill that was widely expected to pass the House on Thursday. "I think that there probably will be [primary challenges]," added Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a religious political group in Washington. "I think there will be some consequences for this." PELOSI SAYS GOP'S PLAN B IS WORSE: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the GOP abortion bill voted on is "even worse" than the more contentious legislation that Republicans tabled late Wednesday. "If for cosmetic reason, [Republican leaders] thought this was a good idea, now they’re going to a much worse bill and I don’t know what progress there is," she said at a news conference. Read more here. 'SWEAR JAR' FOR DRUG COMPANIES?: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) turned her fire from Wall Street to large pharmaceutical companies on Thursday, unveiling a bill to make big drug companies pay into a fund for medical research when they reach a settlement for law-breaking. "It’s like a swear jar: Whenever a huge drug company that is generating enormous profits as a result of federal research investments gets caught breaking the law — and wants off the hook — it has to put some money in the jar to help fund the next generation of medical research," Warren said. Read more here. Friday's schedule: The National Center for Health Statistics will hold a meeting at 8:30 a.m. Families USA continues its "Building Real Progress" conference. The Bipartisan Policy Center holds a panel with top congressional staffers on the outlook for health IT. State by state: Arkansas governor: Reauthorize private option through '16 States will get more money for school-based health services Ohio gov backs Medicaid expansion, budget amendment What we’re reading: How the House GOP’s abortion bill fell apart Under Pope Francis, Catholics see pro-life label as broader than abortion Abortion opponents rally on Mall, optimistic that nation’s views are aligning with theirs What you might have missed from The Hill: Health chief pushes ObamaCare sign-ups ahead of deadline Ebola vaccine trials to begin in weeks GOP senator: O-Care’s employer mandate would lower U.S. work ethic Obama threatens veto on second abortion bill Please send tips and comments to Sarah Ferris, sferris@thehill.com, and Elise Viebeck, eviebeck@thehill.com. Follow on Twitter: @thehill, @sarahnferris, @eliseviebeck