Christian Smith
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an election-year effort to get Republicans on the record on reproductive rights issues, Senate Democrats are holding a vote Wednesday to advance legislation aimed at protecting women’s access to contraception.
The test vote comes as the Senate abandons hopes of passing serious bipartisan legislation before the election and as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democrats are trying instead to highlight issues they believe in. that could help them win the presidency and keep the Senate in November. A similar vote on ensuring national access to in vitro fertilization could take place as early as next week.
Neither bill is expected to pass the Senate, where Democrats would need 60 votes, let alone the Republican-led House. But Schumer said Tuesday that Democrats “will put reproductive freedoms front and center in this chamber so the American people can see for themselves who will stand up to defend their fundamental freedoms.”
The effort comes as Democrats fear that reproductive rights will be further threatened after the Supreme Court struck down the nation’s right to abortion two years ago and as they continue to view that access as one of their most important election-year issues. . President Joe Biden’s campaign sees reproductive rights as a key way to win over undecided voters, especially women.
The Republican minority scoffed, saying political message votes were unserious distractions from the legislation they wanted to vote on. “I hope we’ll see a lot more spectacular votes this summer,” South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, said Tuesday.
Still, Wednesday’s vote on whether to move forward with the legislation could put some Republican senators in a difficult situation. While most Republicans oppose any restrictions on contraception, they are unlikely to support political pressure from Democrats.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins, one of the few Republican senators who supports abortion rights, said Monday that she will likely vote to advance the legislation but would like to see the bill amended to include more protections for religious freedom. “It’s clearly a message attempt and not a serious attempt itself,” she said.
The Senate’s push on reproductive access this year differs from bipartisan legislation passed in 2022 that would protect same-sex marriage amid concerns the court could go after the Obergefell v. Board of Education decision. Hodges who legalized gay marriage nationwide. Voting on that bill was delayed until after that year’s midterm elections to try to avoid political complications, and 12 Republicans ended up supporting it, sending it to Biden’s desk.
But since Republicans won the House majority last year, Congress has moved forward on some legislative items that were not immediately urgent or did not have an expiration date. Schumer has repeatedly said he would like to pass bills to improve rail safety, reduce the cost of prescription drugs and improve children’s online safety, among other bipartisan legislation. But most of those bills have stalled in a divided Congress as some Republicans and Democrats have shown themselves less willing to work together in an election year.
Schumer has instead focused the Senate on judicial nominations and political messaging bills, including a repeat vote last month on a border security bill that Republicans had already rejected in February after months of bipartisan negotiations. Democrats who have faced intense criticism over the border issue hope they can defuse the issue somewhat by highlighting this legislation. But Republicans said it didn’t go far enough.
Democrats seized on the contraception issue after former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, said in an interview last month that he was open to supporting restrictions on birth control. He quickly reversed course and said he “has never advocated and will never advocate” restricting such access.
However, contraception has been increasingly involved in the abortion debate in some conservative states. In Missouri, a women’s health care bill was stalled for months due to concerns about expanding insurance coverage for birth control, after some lawmakers falsely confused birth control with medical abortion. In Arizona, Republicans unanimously blocked a Democratic effort to protect the right to access contraception. Tennessee Republicans blocked a bill that would have clarified that the state’s abortion ban would not affect contraceptive care or fertility treatments.
And in Virginia, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed bills from the Democratic-controlled Legislature that would have protected the right to contraception earlier this year. He said he supports the right to birth control, but that “we cannot trample on Virginians’ religious freedoms.”
The Senate bill would make it federal law that an individual has the right to obtain contraceptives and to “practice contraception,” and that health care providers can provide them.
The legislation aimed at protecting in vitro fertilization comes after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law earlier this year, causing several clinics to suspend IVF treatments. The state later enacted a law providing legal protections to IVF clinics, but Democrats argued that Congress should act to ensure nationwide access to reproductive care to try to prevent courts from making such decisions.
Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said she believes Americans “will be watching closely” as Democrats force Republicans to vote on contraception on Wednesday.
“Senate Democrats believe every woman has the right to contraception – whether it’s the Pill, Plan B or an IUD – what could be more common sense and more hassle-free?” Murray said on Tuesday. “So tomorrow, all Senate Republicans will be informed of their position.”
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Associated Press writer Stephen Groves contributed to this report.
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