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The House on Friday passed legislation that would protect access to reproductive health care, including the ability to travel across state borders for an abortion, as part of Democrats’ efforts to minimize the consequences of abortion. annulment of the Supreme Court. Roe against Wade last month.
A bill, the Women ‘s Health Protection Act, would enshrine the protections of Roe against Wade to the law. The House already passed the bill last year, but did not advance a vote in the Senate in May. The House passed the bill, 219-210, provoking the applause of Democrats in the House. All Republicans and Rep. Henry Cuéllar (D-Tex.) Voted against the measure.
Another bill, the Act to Guarantee Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom, would reaffirm the right of a person seeking an abortion to travel freely across state borders. The House passed this measure, 223-205, with three Republicans: Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), Fred Upton (Mich.) And Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Joining all Democrats to support the bill. .
Despite approval in the Democratic-led House, it is almost certain that the bills will fail in the Senate, where they would require 60 votes or the suspension of obstruction rules and a simple majority. Both are unlikely in the face of Republican opposition.
The debate in the House underscored the deep division between the two parties, with Democrats warning Republicans will impose more restrictions on women, including a national abortion ban, and Republicans insisting they are protectors of “unborn children. “.
“Nor the courts neither states nor politicians should have a say in women’s ability to make their own decisions about their health, well-being, and their future that depends on their loved ones, their doctor, and their God. ” , said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) If we want to love freedom, be a free and just society, we must ensure that this basic human right is finally enshrined in Law. “
As further proof of their opposition to the measure, Republicans falsely renamed the legislation in their whip warning as the “Abortion on Demand to Birth Act,” which is a misrepresentation of the bill. , and repeated this statement in the House.
MP Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) Called abortion a “human rights issue” for a generation.
“Don’t close your ears. Don’t close your eyes. Do not close your hearts, dehumanizing a life, “he said as the House debated the measure.” Let’s go together. We protect the human rights of the unborn. We cannot deny life to the most disadvantaged and marginalized among us. “
Deputy Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.). argued that the most marginalized would be affected if abortion rights were abolished.
“My middle name is Blunt, so let me be clear who will be most affected,” he said. “Poor women, young women, women from rural areas and women of color. People who may not have the ability to travel hundreds of miles to get the care they need. “
Rep. Mayra Flores (R-Tex.), Who represents a district that nearly turned the Republican upside down with her recent victory in the special election, said the bill does not align with voter values. your district.
“Protecting the voiceless should be a top priority in this House and in every corner of this land,” he said. “As a mother of four beautiful, strong children, I find it hard to believe that there are those who think that defending life is optional, even until the last month of pregnancy.”
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-California) addressed Republicans directly during the debate, warning that the freedoms Conservatives love could be erased next.
“You’re trying to take away people’s right to travel,” he said. “What the hell is this? Is this America? “
“Today they come for me; they will come looking for you tomorrow, “the legislator added.
MP Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) Rejected a belief among religious conservatives about the origin of life while expressing her support for the legislation.
“If you think life starts from conception, don’t have an abortion,” he said Friday. “But that’s your belief. It’s not science, and others don’t share it.”
“I don’t think anyone here will ever force someone with your beliefs to have an abortion,” the mother of two added. “But you’re forcing your beliefs on others, and that’s wrong.”
Deputy Frank Pallone Jr. (DN.J.) argued that rapid passage of the bill is necessary given the long-term goals of Republican lawmakers to ban the procedure nationwide, and the immediate impact that Conservative judges have had. in the rights to abortion.
“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,” she said Friday. “Republicans have made it clear. This is just the beginning, pushing for a national ban on abortion. “
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 version of the Senate a bill that would have protected travel. across state lines for those seeking an abortion, accusing Democrats of trying to “inflame, increase what happens if.”
Lankford’s comments focused on the case of a 10-year-old Ohio girl who was raped and had to travel to Indiana to have an abortion because procedures are banned in Ohio after six weeks.
The record shows that the Indiana doctor fulfilled his duty to report on the abortion of a 10-year-old boy
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Co-sponsor of the Senate bill, backtracked in Lankford, saying “radical, anti-election political leaders” at the state level were already threatening to criminalize interstate travel for to abortions, and that even the prospect of this legislation was having a chilling effect on abortion providers in states where the procedure remains legal.
“I have no doubt that some states will continue to move forward with this type of legislation,” Cortez Masto said. “This is a form of gas lighting, to continue to insist that American women will be able to receive attention when we know that legislators and anti-election groups are working to prevent them from doing so. What lawmakers are doing across the country to restrict women’s travel is blatantly unconstitutional. ”
Despite the doomed future of the bills, Democrats have been pressured from their grassroots to show that they are doing everything possible to preserve the right to abortion following the Supreme Court decision. Abortion rights activists have already accused the White House of not taking enough action, especially since a draft of the Supreme Court decision was leaked in early May.
However, Pelosi on Thursday defended the Biden administration’s response.
“I have no doubt about this administration’s support for women’s right to choose and take the necessary steps to ensure this,” Pelosi told reporters. “That’s something that’s fundamental to who we are. It’s about freedom. It’s about health care. It’s about respect for women. And that’s something the president is married to.”
White House officials have reportedly been debating internally whether to declare access to abortion a public health emergency. President Biden has said he would support the change in obstruction rules in the Senate to preserve abortion rights, while pushing voters to make their feelings known at the polls, starting with the election mid-term in November.
Pelosi echoed that sentiment Thursday, suggesting that by only electing more Democratic senators to avoid obstruction, Congress could pass legislation that “really affects a woman’s right to choose,” not just what she called measures “halfway”.
“We will not negotiate the right to choose a woman,” Pelosi said. “What are you going to negotiate? If a woman can have contraception? Is that a reason to negotiate? If people can have birth control? Yes or no? A little here. A little there. No.”
Ahead of Friday’s House vote, Pelosi vowed that his party would continue to “fiercely defend women’s freedom” during an event on the steps of the Capitol in which dozens of lawmakers dressed in green, which has become the color of the movement for abortion rights.
Pelosi said Democrats are sending a message of “hands out of our reproductive health.”
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) Announced that next week the House will vote on a bill to ensure 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.