Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, will move Monday to bring a vote on a bill that would create a federal statute that assures health care providers are able to provide an abortion before a fetus is viable and that a woman has a right to request one.
Schumer plans to file cloture, or a procedure that puts a time period on debate on a bill, Monday moving it toward a Wednesday vote in the Senate. The bill introduced by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, is called the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2022. If passed, it would create a statutory right to abortion nationwide.
The plan to hold a vote comes a week after a leak of a draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court indicated a majority of its members were set to vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that made abortion legal in the U.S. in most cases.
“We will vote on protecting a woman’s right to choose, and every American is going to see which side every senator stands on,” Schumer said Tuesday of the vote on the bill.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said in an interview with USA Today that a nationwide abortion ban was possible if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.
“If the leaked opinion became the final opinion, legislative bodies — not only at the state level but at the federal level — certainly could legislate in that area,” McConnell said. “And if this were the final decision, that was the point that it should be resolved one way or another in the legislative process. So yeah, it’s possible.” McConnell declined to say whether Republicans had a plan to introduce a ban on abortion.
Should the Supreme Court decide to overturn Roe v. Wade, each state would have the authority to restrict abortion.
“Choice should not be up to a handful of right-wing justices. Choice should not be up to a handful of right-wing politicians. It’s a woman’s right. Plain and simple,” Schumer said of the need to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act.
The planned vote on Wednesday likely will not have the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster in the 50-50 Senate, meaning the measure will not have a chance to pass.