With a Supreme Court ruling looming, both parties expect the issue to resonate in this year’s midterm elections.
Abortion rights advocates demonstrating in front of the Supreme Court in November.
WASHINGTON — Republicans on Monday blocked the Senate from taking up sweeping abortion rights legislation as Democrats sought to put lawmakers on the record on the issue in advance of the midterm elections and a coming Supreme Court ruling on access to abortion.
Democrats fell 14 votes short of the 60 needed to bring the Women’s Health Protection Act to the floor for consideration after the House last September passed it on a narrow party-line vote. One Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, joined all Republicans in opposition to beginning debate on the measure.
Lawmakers said it was the first time that the Senate had voted on a separate bill to enact the constitutional protections of Roe v. Wade into law. The outcome was anticipated, but Democrats were determined to hold the vote as members of both parties draw battle lines over what is expected to be a major election-year issue. The conservative-dominated Supreme Court is set to rule later this year on a case that could undermine or overturn the landmark abortion decision.
“We want Americans to know where their legislators stand on this important issue,” said Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the No. 3 Democrat and a leading backer of the abortion rights bill.
The measure would codify in federal law abortion rights that have long been protected by the 1973 court ruling. It was pursued by Democrats and abortion rights groups as a way to counter the increasingly severe abortion restrictions being enacted at the state level as well as the prospect of a high court ruling upholding tough new abortion limits in Mississippi and leaving in place a Texas law that has severely limited abortion in that state.
“People are counting on the Senate to do what the Supreme Court will not,” said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights.
About two dozen states have readied legislation that would immediately restrict abortion rights if the court upholds the Mississippi law, which bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, about two months earlier than Roe and subsequent decisions allow.
During Supreme Court arguments in December, conservative justices indicated a willingness to scale back, if not undo, the federal abortion protections and leave most of the regulation up to individual states. Democrats say the measure is needed to guarantee that women around the nation have equal access to abortion and to prevent states from imposing restrictions that are not medically necessary as a way to unconstitutionally curtail abortion.
ImageSenator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader. Democrats fell short of assembling the 60 votes needed to bring the Women’s Health Protection Act to the floor for consideration after the House passed it on a party-line vote last September.Credit…Michael A. McCoy for The New York Times
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, decided to move forward with a vote on the Democratic bill despite the Republican opposition in the Senate, calling it a “dark, dark time” for abortion rights in the United States.
“Abortion has never been more at risk in America,” he said.
Abortion rights opponents say the proposed legislation, which President Biden has said he would sign if it reached his desk, goes far beyond the scope of the Roe decision, and would allow late-term abortions and eliminate state restrictions on abortion that have strong public support.
The State of Abortion in the U.S.
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Abortion at the Supreme Court. The justices’ upcoming ruling on a Mississippi law could dramatically change abortion access in the U.S., including possibly overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which established a constitutional right to abortion.
If Roe v. Wade is overturned. Abortion would remain legal in more than half of states, but not in a wide swath of the Midwest and the South. Legislatures in 22 states would almost certainly move to ban or substantially restrict access to abortion.
Who gets abortions in America? The portrait of abortion has changed with society. Today, teenagers are having far fewer abortions. The typical patient is most likely already a mother, poor, unmarried, in her late 20s, has some college education and is very early in pregnancy.
The politics are complicated. Americans are not as neatly divided on abortion as politicians and activists. Overall, 26 percent of voters hold a different view on abortion than the presidential candidate they supported in 2020, one poll found.
Abortion pills. Medication abortion has increasingly become the most accessible and preferred method for terminating pregnancy. More than half of U.S. abortions are now carried out with abortion pills, and the F.D.A. has said it will permanently allow patients to receive them by mail.
“The misnamed Women’s Health Protection Act is the most radical abortion bill in United States history,” said Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life. “It would enshrine into federal law abortion on demand until the moment of birth, and it would nullify state laws — new and existing — that protect unborn children and their mothers.”
Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader, criticized Democrats for holding a “show vote” on the Senate floor when there were more pressing issues such as the conflict in Ukraine to consider. He predicted the maneuver would backfire on Democrats, noting that public opinion polls show most Americans favor some restrictions on abortion, particularly late-term procedures.
“Yet again our colleagues wish to demonstrate that the radical left fringe runs today’s Democratic Party,” Mr. McConnell said on the Senate floor before the vote. “I want to thank the Senate majority leader for making it clear where his party’s priorities lie.”
Both sides are bracing for abortion rights to be a major issue in the November elections, particularly if a high court decision in May or June is seen as gutting Roe. While abortion has traditionally been seen as an issue that is a stronger motivator for conservatives, Democrats say that a court decision striking down Roe and the spread of new abortion restrictions around the nation could rally women voters and turn the issue in their favor.
Democrats did not try to disguise the fact that Monday’s vote was aimed at getting Republicans on the record.
“Make no mistake,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut and a chief author of the legislation, “reproductive freedom will be on the ballot in November.”
Source: nytimes.com
