Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to hold a vote next week on legislation codifying abortion rights in the wake of the Supreme Court’s leaked preliminary opinion.
“This is real and as urgent as it gets,” the New York Democrat said, announcing the vote would take place on Wednesday.
Although Schumer said this would be one of the “most important” votes in the Senate, the legislation is likely to fail in the divided Senate. Abortion legislation would need 60 votes to break a filibuster.
And when Democrats voted on the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) in February, it received just 46 votes. The party’s efforts to remove a decades-old ban on federal funding for abortions also died in the Senate after being passed in the House of Representatives.
The WHPA passed the House last September primarily along the party line, 218-211. Republicans have argued that the bill goes too far — essentially eliminating a state’s right to restrict abortion.
Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have both expressed support for abortion rights — and disappointment with the Supreme Court’s preliminary decision — but both have called the WHPA too broad. Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, W.Va., also previously voted against the bill.
Collins said she’s also worried the Democrats’ bill could scrap the Hyde Amendment.
Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to hold a vote next week on legislation codifying abortion rights in the wake of the Supreme Court’s leaked preliminary opinion
The bill would protect a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy at least until “fetal viability,” about 22 to 24 weeks, and would require abortions to be legal until childbirth if “if, in the good faith of the medical judgment of the treating health care provider, continuing the pregnancy would endanger the life or health of the pregnant patient.” The bill directs courts to interpret the legislation “liberally.” The Senate bill’s lead sponsor, Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said the bill does not “distinguish” between physical and mental health when making decisions about late-stage abortions.
The bill would remove any restrictions imposed by states’ prevalence, such as: B. the requirement of special admission privileges for providers or the imposition of waiting periods. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi put the bill to the vote after six weeks after the abortion ban in Texas.
Now, Schumer is responding to a leaked draft Supreme Court advisory opinion obtained by Politico that shows a majority of justices are in favor of dismissing the Roe v. Wade of 1973 and Planned Parenthood v. Casey of 1992 and return abortion rules to the states. According to the Pro Choice Guttmacher Institute, 26 states are “certain or likely” that abortion will become illegal in most cases if Roe is overturned.
Though the vote is likely to fail, Schumer will force all senators to go on the record on abortion before the midterms, essentially helping vulnerable Democrats bring home a pro-choice vote ahead of the election.
The Supreme Court’s leaked preliminary opinion sent shockwaves across the country, and pro-choice protesters immediately took to the streets, like above in Austin, Texas
Nichole McClish of Lansing, Michigan uses a sign to block anti-choice protesters at the Michigan Capitol in Lansing Tuesday, May 3
Protesters gather in front of the steps of the Michigan State Capitol Building in Lansing, Michigan on Tuesday, May 3
“Every American will see which side each senator is on,” Schumer said in a speech in the Senate on Tuesday.
“All week we’ve seen Republicans attempt to shirk, dodge and walk away from their responsibility for bringing Roe to the brink of full annulment. They’ve been trying to do that for decades,” Schumer said Thursday. “Next week the American people will see with crystal clarity that if the Republican Party has the opportunity to right this wrong, it will either side with the extremists who want to ban abortion altogether, or with women, families and… the great majority of Americans.’
Collins and Murkowski, meanwhile, have proposed their own Reproductive Choice Act, which would prohibit states from imposing an “unreasonable burden” on women attempting to terminate a pregnancy before viability.
Unlike the WHPA, Collins and Murkowski say their bill would not interfere with religious freedoms protected by law and would allow states to ban sex-based abortions and require notification of parents or guardians of minors who desire an abortion.
They say their bill would codify rights granted under Roe without going further, but would not include other “alien” and “excessive” provisions found in the WHPA.
Sens. Collins and Murkowski, meanwhile, have proposed their own Reproductive Choice Act, which would prohibit states from imposing an “unreasonable burden” on women attempting to terminate a pregnancy before viability
Both moderate Republican senators have expressed frustration with the Supreme Court following the leaked preliminary opinion.
“If this leaked draft opinion is the final decision and this reporting is accurate, it would be totally inconsistent with what Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh said at their hearings and at our meetings in my office,” Collins said in a statement.
Collins voted for Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh under President Trump, both of whom are reportedly in favor of Roe’s ouster.
Murkowski, who voted for Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett but not Kavanaugh, said: “We don’t know what direction this decision will ultimately go, but if it goes in the direction that that leaked copy indicated, I will.” just to tell you that it’s shaking my faith in the court right now.
