The Senate voted on May 11 to filibuster the Democrats’ Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), which would have codified and extended Roe v. Wade, as the Supreme Court seems intent on striking down the precedent.
The 51–49 filibuster vote was mostly party-line, with all Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) voting against the bill.
According to a draft opinion leaked to Politico on May 2—written by Justice Samuel Alito and confirmed as genuine by the court—a majority of the justices have agreed preliminarily to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The court has not yet issued a final opinion.
Under the 1973 standard, states are prohibited from imposing restrictions on abortion in the first trimester, during which SCOTUS ruled that the mother’s right to privacy outweighed state interest in protecting life. The move effectively overturned existing abortion laws in over two dozen states, and since then, pro-life advocates have fought to return the power to regulate abortion to the states.
Democrats decided immediately after the decision was leaked to bring the WHPA, which was unsuccessfully brought to the floor in 2021 and earlier in 2022, for another go at passage.
A different version of the bill was passed by the House of Representatives in September 2021 in a party-line vote, with Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), a pro-life Catholic, being the only Democrat to oppose the bill.
That bill stated that abortion services are a constitutional right, as decided by SCOTUS in Roe v. Wade, and that access to abortion “has been obstructed across the United States in various ways,” including by state laws.
It also stated that health care providers would be able to carry out abortions with virtually no limitations or requirements, a provision aimed at preempting new state laws, as well as superseding some current state laws restricting the procedure.
With the threat of Roe being repealed looming on the horizon, Democrats tried to soften the language of the bill from its earlier form. However, given the composition of the Senate, the bill was never likely to pass.
In a speech prior to the vote on the bill, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) made an impassioned plea for its passage.
“Women’s rights face their greatest threat in half a century,” Schumer said.
“The legislation before this chamber is straightforward,” Schumer claimed. “It would codify what Americans already believe: that the right to choose whether or not to have an abortion belongs to women, not elected politicians.”
Prior to the vote, Manchin explained his reasoning for defecting from his party and voting against the bill. The WHPA, Manchin said, goes well beyond the bounds of Roe v. Wade.
“We’re gonna be voting on a piece of legislation which I will not vote for today,” Manchin told reporters.
“I would vote for a Roe v. Wade codification if it was today, I was hopeful for that,” Manchin explained. “But I found out yesterday in caucus that wasn’t gonna be.”
Manchin is one of only two Democrats in the Senate who have expressed some pro-life sentiments.
The other, Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), announced earlier this week that he would support the WHPA, and he voted with his party for the bill on May 11.
“This week, I will again vote yes to advance debate on the Women’s Health Protection Act and I will support the bill if there is a vote on final passage in the future,” Casey said in a statement.
From The Epoch Times
