The campaign of Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton on Thursday slammed a House Republican effort to overwrite a District of Columbia law that bans discrimination against employees who have had abortions, CNN reported.

Jennifer Palmieri, the former secretary of State's communications director, told the news channel that GOP lawmakers in Congress were trying to "overrule the democratic process" and promised that, if elected president, Clinton would be an ardent defender of women's rights.

"Hillary Clinton has fought for women and families and their right to access the full range of reproductive health care without interference from politicians or employers," Palmieri said. "Hillary will fight to make it easier, not more difficult, for women and families to get ahead and ensure that women are not discriminated against for personal medical decisions," she added.

At the heart of the uproar is a resolution of disapproval the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed on Thursday that seeks to nullify a District law approved in December that bars city employers from taking punitive action against employees who use abortion services or birth control, the news channel detailed.

The measure was sanctioned on a largely party-line, 228-192 vote, but requires the Senate's approval and the president's signature to take effect. So far, there is no indication that the Congress' upper chamber will take up the measure, and the White House has said that President Barack Obama would veto the resolution if it ever reached his desk.

House members on both sides of the aisle, meanwhile, traded sharp rhetoric over the issue.

Texas Rep. Bill Flores, the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, argued that the resolution was aimed at defending religious freedom.

"We first flagged this issue when the D.C. Council passed the law and have been resolute in our belief that Congress has the right and the responsibility to act in defense of our constitutional freedom of belief," he said.

But Del. Eleanor Holmes-Norton, who represents the District in Congress, slammed the bill as "wildly undemocratic."

"It is a naked violation of the nation's founding principle of local control of local affairs, and is profoundly offensive to D.C. residents," Holmes-Norton insisted.