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The House of Representatives on Friday passed legislation that would protect access to reproductive health care, including the ability to travel across state lines for an abortion, as part of an effort by Democrats to minimize the fallout from the Supreme Court’s overturn Roe v. Wade last month.
One bill, the Women’s Health Protection Act, would strengthen protections for Roe v. Wade in law. The House of Representatives already passed the bill last year, but it failed to pass a Senate vote in May. The House passed the bill, 219-210, drawing cheers from Democrats in the chamber. All Republicans and Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.) voted against the measure.
Another bill, the Women’s Reproductive Freedom Guarantee Act, would reaffirm the right of someone seeking an abortion to travel freely across state lines. The House passed the measure, 223-205, with three Republicans — Adam Kinzinger (Illinois), Fred Upton (Michigan) and Brian Fitzpatrick (Pennsylvania) — joining all Democrats in support of the bill.
Despite passing the Democratic-led House of Representatives, the bills will almost certainly fail in the Senate, where they would require 60 votes or a suspension of filibuster rules and a simple majority. Both are unlikely in the face of Republican opposition.
The House debate underscored the deep divide between the two parties, with Democrats warning that Republicans would impose further restrictions on women, including a national abortion ban, and Republicans insisting they are advocates for “unborn children.”
“Neither do the courts “Neither states nor politicians should have a say in women’s ability to make their own decisions about their health, their well-being and their future, which depends on their loved ones, their doctor and their God,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). “If we claim to love freedom, to be a free and just society, we must ensure that this basic human right is finally enshrined in law.”
As further evidence of their opposition to the measure, Republicans falsely renamed the legislation in their whip notice the “Abortion on Demand Until Birth Act” — a misrepresentation of the bill — and repeated that claim on the floor.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-Wash.) called abortion the “human rights issue” of a generation.
“Don’t close your ears. Don’t close your eyes. Don’t close your hearts dehumanizing life,” she said as the House debated the measure. “Let’s get together. Let’s protect the human rights of the unborn. We cannot deny life to the most wronged and marginalized among us.”
Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.). argued that the most marginalized would be affected if abortion rights were abolished.
“My brother’s name is Blunt, so let me make it clear who’s going to get hit the hardest,” she said. “Poor women, young women, rural women and women of color. People who may not have the ability to travel hundreds of miles to get the care they need.
Rep. Myra Flores (R-Tex.), who represents a district that narrowly swept Republicans with its recent special election win, said the bill is out of line with the values of voters in her district.
“Protecting the voiceless must be a top priority in this chamber and in every corner of this earth,” she said. “As a mother of four beautiful, strong children, I find it hard to believe that there are people who think that pro-life is optional – even until the last month of pregnancy.”
Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) directly addressed Republicans during the debate, warning that the freedoms conservatives hold could be erased next time.
“You’re trying to take away people’s right to travel,” she said. “What on earth is this? Is this America?”
“Today they are coming for me; they are coming for you tomorrow,” added the MP.
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) rejected the belief among religious conservatives about the origin of life while voicing her support for the legislation.
“If you believe life begins at conception, don’t have an abortion,” she said Friday. “But that’s your belief.” This is not science and others do not share it.
“I don’t think anyone here would force someone with your beliefs to have an abortion,” added the mother of two. “But you’re forcing your beliefs on others, and that’s wrong.”
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (DN.J.) argued that quick passage of the bill is necessary given Republican lawmakers’ long-term goals to ban the procedure nationwide — and the immediate impact conservative justices are having on abortion rights.
“The court’s ideological decision ignored nearly 50 years of precedent and is the culmination of decades of relentless efforts by Republican politicians to control women and their bodies,” he said Friday. “The Republicans have made it clear. This is just the beginning, the push for a national abortion ban.
In May, Senate Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin III (DW.Va.) blocked the Women’s Health Protection Act, and on Thursday, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) blocked the Senate version of a bill that would have protected travel across the state borders for those who want an abortion, accusing Democrats of trying to “inflame, raise the ‘what if’ question.”
Lankford’s comments came amid intense focus on the case of a 10-year-old Ohio girl who was raped and had to travel to Indiana to have an abortion because the procedures are already banned in Ohio after six weeks.
The record shows an Indiana doctor failed to report an abortion to a 10-year-old child
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), a co-author of the Senate bill, pushed back against Lankford, saying “radical anti-choice politicians” at the state level are already threatening to criminalize interstate travel for abortions — and that even the prospect for that legislation has had a chilling effect on abortion providers in states where the procedure remains legal.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that some states will continue to move forward with this type of legislation,” Cortez Masto said. “It’s a form of gaslighting to continue to insist that American women will be able to get care when we know lawmakers and anti-choice groups are working to stop them from doing so. What lawmakers are doing across the country to restrict women from traveling is simply unconstitutional.
Despite the bills’ doomed future, Democrats are under pressure from their base to show they are doing everything they can to preserve abortion rights after the Supreme Court ruling. Abortion rights activists have already accused the White House of not doing enough — especially since the Supreme Court’s draft decision expired in early May.
Pelosi, however, defended the Biden administration’s response on Thursday.
“I have no doubt about this administration’s support for a woman’s right to choose and to take the necessary actions to ensure it,” Pelosi told reporters. “It’s something that’s at the core of who we are. It’s about freedom. It’s about healthcare. It’s about respecting women. And it’s something the president is married to.
White House officials have reportedly debated internally whether to declare abortion access a public health emergency. President Biden has said he would support changing Senate filibuster rules to preserve abortion rights, while urging pro-abortion-rights voters to make their feelings known at the ballot box starting in November’s midterm elections.
Pelosi echoed that sentiment Thursday, suggesting that only by electing more Democratic senators to work around the issue would Congress be able to pass legislation that “truly affects a woman’s right to choose” — not just what she called “half” measures.
“We will not negotiate on a woman’s right to choose,” Pelosi said. “What are you going to negotiate? Can a woman have contraception? Is this negotiable? Can people have birth control? Yes or no? A little here. A little there. No.”
Ahead of Friday’s House vote, Pelosi vowed her party would continue to “fiercely defend women’s freedom” during an event on the Capitol steps where dozens of lawmakers wore green, which has become the color of the civil rights movement. of abortions.
Pelosi said Democrats are sending a message “away from our reproductive health.”
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Med.) announced that the House will vote next week on a bill to provide access to contraception.
“American women deserve to be able to make decisions about their own bodies and their own lives, including whether to get pregnant and have children,” Hoyer said in a statement.
John Wagner contributed to this report.
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