A Democratic-led bill to protect access to contraception was defeated in the Senate on Wednesday, failing to reach the 60-vote threshold required to overcome a filibuster.
The result was expected but offered Senate Democrats their latest opportunity to spotlight a hot-button political issue they believe will aid vulnerable members and President Joe Biden ahead of the November elections.
“This is not a show vote. This is a show-us-who-you-are vote,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said. “The Republicans don’t want to show who they really are.”
The legislation would codify federal protections for birth control into law by making it a “fundamental right,” a move Democrats argued was necessary in a post-Roe era without guaranteed access to abortion. It includes religious liberty exemptions for contraception providers, and Schumer called claims it expands abortion “vulgar fearmongering.”
“For my Republican colleagues who say this is just a messaging vote for Democrats, it doesn’t have to be if you stand with the vast majority of Americans who want to protect the right to access contraception,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), who is up for reelection, said.
The Senate voted 51-39 along mostly party lines for the proposal dubbed the Right to Contraception Act. Two Republicans voted with all Democrats: Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
Schumer ultimately changed his vote to no, a procedural move that allows him to more easily bring the measure up for another vote in the future.
Senate Republicans, seeking to counterprogram Democrats’ rhetoric, introduced their own version this week led by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA). Her legislation, the Allowing Greater Access to Safe and Effective Contraception Act, would increase birth control options on the market but prevent tax dollars from aiding to “destroy life” by funding abortion or abortion providers.
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“It’s important the American people understand what the Democrats are peddling,” Ernst said. “[The bill] creates a precedent to mandate access to abortion drugs for women and girls of all ages. It also allows taxpayer dollars to be funneled to organizations like Planned Parenthood.”
Republicans have distanced themselves from recent court rulings in Alabama and Arizona that jeopardized access to in vitro fertilization and abortion, respectively.
Rachel Schilke contributed to this report.
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