WASHINGTON — Monday’s Senate vote was 46 to 48 to stop a bill by Democrats to codify rights into federal law. This is ahead of an anticipated Supreme Court decision that could restrict access to the procedure.
The Women’s Health Protection Act (the legislation) failed to get the 60 votes necessary to defeat a filibuster. It would also have been short of the 50 votes required for passage after Senator Joe Manchin, D.W.Va. joined Republicans as opposition.
48 Democratic cosponsors have signed on to the Women’s Health Protection Act. Manchin and Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.) voted against the measure’s introduction. Six senators didn’t vote.
The Supreme Court is reexaminating the fate of Roe v. Wade. Many proponents of legal abortion rights were optimistic about the future, despite the 6-to-3 conservative balance and the tone of oral arguments in Dec.
The House passed the legislation in September. It represented supporters’ last hope to see a law that would guarantee abortion is legal in all 50 US states. Roe would be overturned by the justices to trigger restrictive laws in 26 states , and allow legislators in other states to limit or outlaw the practice.
When asked by NBC News about what the bill’s dead end looks like, Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) replied: “This is Day One.”
“We are not going to quit. She said that they won’t be going away. “I don’t want to return to unsafe abortions, where women died,” she said. I will continue fighting, and I want Americans to fight with me.”
Advocates for abortion rights have spoken out about preparing for a post-Roe reality. Planned Parenthood told NBC News last month that it was bolstering logistical centres across the country to ease the burden of those seeking abortions. They will provide food, lodging and cash assistance.
Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund said Monday that the “fight for life continues — in Congress as well as in the states.”
“All people deserve access to abortion, regardless of their income or zip code. Johnson stated in a statement that it was unconscionable that so few U.S. senators voted for their constituents’ rights and health. “As state legislative chambers intensify their aggressive assaults against reproductive freedoms, lawmakers at all levels need to step up in this crisis moment.”
Carrie Severino is the president of Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative group. She said that the Supreme Court arguments worked very well for abortion opponents. She noted that even if they win, it does not mean that abortion will be legal everywhere.
“Principally, if you are a New York or California resident, will your abortion law change?” Severino stated that a victory for the Mississippi state official named as the main plaintiff would only send the abortion issue back to the states, “where they’ve always been since 1973.”
