Chuck Schumer will try to overcome a Republican filibuster Wednesday to codify Roe v. Wade into law, but the Democratic Senate leader doesn’t have the votes needed to make the landmark abortion case federal law.
The trial comes after Democrats tried to get the same bill passed in February, but the measure has greater urgency now that a Supreme Court leak shows a draft opinion overturning the Roe v. Wade’s 1973 law that made abortion constitutionally protected.
As Democrats try to invoke the culture of the Women’s Health Protection Act and stop a GOP filibuster, three senators will be able to stop those efforts and prevent the bill from getting a full vote .
Moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia will not support a Cloture vote and earlier this year took action against his party over the same abortion bill.
Democrats hoped to persuade Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, both pro-choice, to vote with them to redeem Manchin’s defection. But it’s unlikely either or both will take up the issue from when they last voted against it in February.
The House of Representatives has already passed its version of the Women’s Health Protection Act, the Roe v. Wade would codify into law, but the Senate was unable to do so with the trio of moderates opposing passage of abortion rights into federal law.
Manchin and Arizona Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema has blocked her party from getting rid of the filibuster so the narrow majority would be able to pass any legislation it wants without requiring 60 votes to get it through.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (pictured in the Capitol on Tuesday) will try to get past a GOP filibuster on Wednesday and win a vote to codify abortion rights into federal law — but the effort is almost certainly dead on arrival, as Democrats haven’t have the votes to get them through the legislation
The new urgency of the push comes after a Supreme Court leak revealed a draft opinion that Roe v. Wade would fall. Pictured: Police watch anti-abortion protesters outside the Supreme Court building Tuesday, May 10
Since Manchin opposes the law, Democrats can’t even use the “nuclear option” to require just a simple majority of the vote, which is the only conceivable option to pass this abortion bill.
Many more progressive senators, such as Vermont’s independent Bernie Sanders and New York’s Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, are repeating calls for the filibuster to end to protect Roe. But the issue was not discussed during the Democrats’ weekly luncheon on Tuesday.
While a Senate leader doesn’t typically bring a vote unless he believes there are votes to pass it, Schumer says it’s important for every senator to get on the record on abortion rights. He claims the proposal is “very simple”.
His team also thinks it’s important to show that Democrats are fighting for a woman’s ability to terminate her pregnancy.
‘[W]We’re making sure that … every senator has to vote and every American will see how they voted,” Schumer said, according to Punchbowl News. “And I believe the Republican Party, the MAGA Republican Party, will suffer the consequences in the election when the American people see this.”
Republicans are overwhelmingly opposed to abortion and believe that decision-making on the matter should go back to the states so that laws can reflect voters and the values of different jurisdictions.
Large, unscalable fences were erected around the Supreme Court after last week’s leak, as anti-abortion and anti-abortion demonstrations became increasingly violent and threatening to Supreme Court justices
Pro-choice activists protest with Democratic Rep. Cori Bush outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday
On the other hand, Democrats are attempting to portray a possible Roe vs. Wade overthrow as a blow to privacy, particularly between women and their healthcare providers. Many, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have made skewed arguments claiming that gay marriage and birth control will be next.
The Women’s Health Protection Act is led by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. He told Punchbowl Tuesday that the legislation was critical because it would prevent states from legally challenging the 50-year status quo of abortion rights.
“Part of what Roe excludes are restrictions like allowing privileges, ultrasounds, mandatory wait times that have been judicially violated [rights]but which states continue to exist,” the senator said.
Nevada Senator Jackie Rosen said Democrats must “take that fear” and “put it into action to defend our majority.”
“We’re not living in a hypothetical,” she added.
In recent years, red states have begun to introduce abortion restrictions — whether it’s abortion deadlines or preventing anyone from helping a woman seek an abortion.
These laws are almost always challenged and work their way through the court system.
The youngest, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, is a Mississippi case that would ban abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy. This is the case that made its way to the Supreme Court and led to Conservative Justice Samuel Alito’s draft Opinion, Roe v. Wade would tip over completely.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is the only Conservative of six to disagree with the Liberals, according to Politico’s leak earlier this month.
However, Roberts is out for the 15-week suspension.
With a 6-3 majority bench, the Conservatives can afford to lose to the Liberals on Justice and still prevail.