Republicans block bill to protect access to contraception

WAshington — Senate Republicans blocked legislation aimed at protecting women’s access to contraception, arguing the bill was merely a political stunt as Democrats mounted an election-year effort to put Republican senators on the registry. reproductive rights issues,

The test vote yielded a 51-39 majority, but fell well short of the 60 votes to advance the legislation.

This came as the Senate abandoned hopes of passing serious bipartisan legislation before the election. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and his Democrats are trying instead to highlight issues they believe could help them win the presidency and keep the Senate in November. A similar vote ensuring national access to in vitro fertilization is expected next week.

That bill is expected to be similarly stalled in the Senate, where Democrats need 60 votes to advance the legislation. 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 reproductive rights will be further threatened after the Supreme Court struck down the nation’s right to a abortion two years ago and as they continue to view this access as one of their most important election year issues. President Joe Biden’s campaign embraced reproductive rights as a key to winning over undecided votersespecially women.

“Contraception is health care, essential health care, that millions of people depend on,” said Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono, a Democrat. She said the court’s decision that overturned Roe v. Wade “predicted more chaos to come.”

President Joe Biden called Republican opposition to the project “unacceptable.”

“We will continue to urge Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade.” Wade into federal law and safeguard the right to contraception once and for all,” Biden said.

The Republican minority scoffed at the votes, 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.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, one of two Republicans who voted with Democrats to advance the bill, said Monday that she would like to see the legislation amended to include more religious freedom protections. “It’s clearly a message attempt and not a serious attempt itself,” she said.

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, who along with Collins supports abortion rights, also voted to advance the legislation.

Many Republicans who voted against consideration of the bill said they support access to contraception but believe the legislation is unnecessary.

“Democrats are using their power to promote an alarmist and false narrative that there is a problem with access to contraception,” said Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, the top Republican on the Louisiana Health, Labor, Education and Pensions Committee. Senate.

Democrats took steps to protect several rights in the wake of the Roe decision, especially after Justice Clarence Thomas issued a concurring opinion that suggested the court also reconsider previous opinions banning contraceptives, sodomy, and same-sex marriage. .

But the Senate’s push on reproductive access this year differs from bipartisan legislation passed in 2022 that protect same-sex marriage. 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.

Instead, Schumer has focused the Senate on judicial nominations and political messaging bills, including a repeat last month’s vote on a border security bill which 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 trumpthe presumptive Republican Party candidate, 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.

Contraception has been increasingly tangled in the abortion debate in some conservative states, however. In Missouri, a women’s health bill was stopped for months due to concerns about expanding insurance coverage for birth control after some lawmakers falsely confused birth control with medication abortion. In Arizona, Republicans unanimously blocked a Democratic effort to protect the right to contraception access. Tennessee Republicans blocked an account this would have clarified that the state’s abortion ban would not affect contraceptive care or fertility treatments.

And in Virginia, Republican Governor 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.

In the GOP-led House, Democratic Rep. Kathy Manning of North Carolina is leading an unlikely effort to get enough signatures to move a similar version of the Senate’s contraception bill out of committee and onto the floor – a tactic used when the leadership wins. not present legislation for a vote.

Schumer said legislation aimed at protecting access to in vitro fertilization will be introduced in the Senate next week.

This bill 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. Later, the state enacted a law that provides legal protections for IVF clinics, but Democrats argued that Congress should act to ensure nationwide access to reproductive care to try to prevent courts from making these decisions.

“Democrats will act to safeguard and strengthen access to IVF for all Americans so that everyone has the opportunity to start a family,” Schumer said.