However, the bill is likely to fail in the Republican-dominated Senate. Many states have already introduced stricter laws or are planning to tighten them.
The US House of Representatives voted in favor of a federal abortion right in the US – the bill is likely to fail in the Senate. Deputies voted 219 to 210 in favor of the bill on Friday. In late June, the country’s highest court revoked the constitutional right to abortion. This allows state legislatures or Congress to decide by law whether and how abortion is allowed or prohibited.
Currently, there is no national law – Democrats want to change that. But they don’t have the necessary majority in the Senate. The House of Representatives also voted 223 to 205 on Friday to pass a second bill that would ban penalties for women who travel to another state to have an abortion.
Supreme Court overturned historic decision
In late June, a 1973 Supreme Court decision guaranteed that abortion right — abortions were legal nationwide at least until the fetus was viable. That decision was overturned by the court’s conservative majority in a landmark decision. The result is a patchwork of regulations. Abortion is now widely banned in many states.
Democrats had already tried unsuccessfully in May to enshrine abortion rights in federal law. At the time, a draft of the judgment was made public, which already showed that judges want to overturn the right to abortion. Democrats hope to be able to mobilize the issue before congressional elections in the fall. The polls assume a gain in votes for Republicans. Some of them are campaigning for legislation to ban abortion across the country.
(APA/dpa)