Senate Republicans block legislation to protect federal abortion rights by 51-49
The Senate voted 51-49 on Wednesday to reject a Democratic push to legalize abortion nationwide in response to the Supreme Court’s draft opinion overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
President Biden accused Republicans of standing in lockstep against women’s right to choose.
“Republicans in Congress – not one of whom voted for this bill – have chosen to stand in the way of Americans’ rights to make the most personal decisions about their own bodies, families and lives,” Biden said.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) joined all 50 Republicans in voting against the bill, including pro-choice moderates Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), saying it expands abortion rights beyond Roe.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the vote was needed to force all senators to take a stand on protecting women’s right to choose.
“The right to choose whether or not to have an abortion belongs to women, not elected politicians,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
“If five unelected justices are allowed to decide the fates of millions of women ... then mark my words: It will be open season, open season, on our God-given freedoms in this great and grand country,” the powerful Democrat added.
Under tight security, Vice President Kamala Harris presided over the Senate session in the hope that the vote would wind up in a tie, which she is empowered to break. But Manchin cast the final vote against the measure, sealing its fate.
Scores of House Democratic lawmakers marched protest-style to the Senate and briefly watched from the visitor galleries, including Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.)
House Dems march to Senate to protest overturning of Roe pic.twitter.com/nihOChq1uG
— Erik Wasson (@elwasson) May 11, 2022
“The Senate is not where the majority of Americans are on this issue,” Harris said afterward.
About half the states already have approved laws that would further restrict or ban abortions, including some trigger laws that would take effect once the court rules.
Polls show that most Americans want to preserve access to abortion in the earlier stages of pregnancy, but views are more nuanced and mixed when it comes to later-term abortions.
The draft court ruling on a case from Mississippi suggested the majority of conservative justices are prepared to end the federal right to abortion, leaving it to the states to decide.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) the primary architect of the effort to install conservative justices on the Supreme Court — including three during the Trump era — has sought to downplay the outcome of any potential changes in federal abortion policy.
“This issue will be dealt with at the state level,” McConnell said.
Both parties are now facing extreme pressure to convince voters they are doing all they can — the Democrats working to preserve abortion access, the Republicans to limit or end it — with the midterm elections coming up.
The congressional campaign committees are fundraising off the abortion issue, and working furiously to energize voters ahead of November’s vote.
With News Wire Services
