The United States Senate failed to pass a bill guaranteeing abortion rights across the country Wednesday, leaving the fate of Roe v. Wade once again at serious risk of being overturned.
The Senate bill, which would have codified the 50-year-old court ruling as federal law among other guarantees to access, was doomed to fail. Republicans were united against giving Democrats any support, while Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said he would also not vote for the House-approved bill.
The bill needed 60 votes to pass an automatic filibuster, but the final tally came to 49 in favour and 51 against in the closely divided Senate.
President Joe Biden called on the Congress controlled by Democrats to pass legislation to protect abortion services for millions of Americans. But Republicans were determined to stop the effort, as the party appears poised to achieve a mission it has worked on for decades: ending Roe v. Wade by installing conservative justices to the Supreme Court.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer intended the vote to serve as a public record for where senators stood on the issue.
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“The American people are watching,” he said ahead of the vote. “The public will not forget which side of the vote senators fall on today.”
The vote was given new urgency by Democrats after the disclosure of a draft Supreme Court opinion by the conservative majority to overturn the Roe decision that many had believed to be settled law.
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The outcome of the court’s actual ruling, expected this summer, is sure to reverberate around the country and on the campaign trail ahead of the fall midterm elections that will determine which party controls Congress.
Thirteen states have passed so-called “trigger laws” that would ban abortions almost immediately after the court hands down its final decision. Six more states have abortion ban laws on the books that predate Roe, and would likely also come into effect once the court rules.
Only ones of those states, Michigan, is actively working to strike down their older law.
More to come…
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