WASHINGTON — House Democrats plan on Friday to push through broad legislation to uphold abortion rights, taking urgent action after a major Supreme Court setback as they brace for a ruling next year that could further roll back access to abortion nationwide.
The House vote will be largely symbolic given that the bill, the Women’s Health Protection Act, has little chance of advancing because of Republican opposition in the Senate. But House Democrats’ decision to consider it reflects their view that the issue could resonate strongly in the midterm elections next year, particularly if female voters see the Supreme Court action as a threat to rights that many believed had been long settled.
The court had refused to block Texas’s law prohibiting most abortions after six weeks gestation, so Democrats swiftly moved to schedule the action. It would preempt hundreds of state laws that govern abortion in the country and guarantee the right to abortion by federal law. Democrats argue it would codify Roe v. Wade which was the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that established a constitutional right for abortion.
The bill’s authors say they began drafting it a decade ago in response to emerging efforts at the state level to impose stringent requirements on those seeking and providing abortions, as well as the increasingly conservative makeup of the court. They say that the court’s current membership and its hostility toward abortion rights have validated the approach, and that time is of the essence because the justices are set to rule next year on a Mississippi law that severely restricts abortions.
“It became very evident that we needed to have something that would push back against all these state restrictions,” Lead author of the bill, Representative Judy Chu, a Democrat from California. “We could see that change was possible at the Supreme Court, and we knew we had to make sure that Roe v. Wade was protected.”
But opponents of the law — including some Republicans who have supported abortion rights — argue that it would go far beyond the landmark court precedent, stripping states of much of their ability to regulate abortion and impose measures intended to make the procedure safe. They fear it would encourage more abortions during the last stages of pregnancy.
“This legislation is really about a mandate by the federal government that would demand abortion on demand, without any consideration for anyone, including the conscience of the provider,” Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Republican from Washington) said she is a key opponent to the bill.
The measure’s Democratic supporters claim they have the support of the House to pass it, which has never voted on it before. However, the Democratic-led Senate may not vote on the bill as it appears to lack majority support.
Two Democrats opposing abortion rights, Senators Bob Casey (Pa.) and Joe Manchin III (West Virginia), are against the legislation. Senator Chuck Schumer, New York’s majority leader, is reluctant to introduce measures that lack at least 50 votes in the evenly divided chamber. Even though the bill may win a narrow majority, Republicans are certain to filibuster them, stopping it from moving forward unless it receives 60 votes. This seems unlikely.
Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine who supports abortion rights, was considered a possible vote for the bill in its current form.
“I support codifying Roe,” Ms. Collins said. “Unfortunately, the bill that the House has drafted goes way beyond that.” She argued that it would “severely weaken” protections afforded to health care providers who refused to perform abortions on religious or moral grounds.
Pointing to the Texas legislation, the Biden administration supports the bill.
“In the wake of Texas’ unprecedented attack, it has never been more important to codify this constitutional right and to strengthen health care access for all women, regardless of where they live,” White House officials made the statement in a policy declaration. “Our daughters and granddaughters deserve the same rights that their mothers and grandmothers fought for and won — and that a clear majority of the American people support.”
The Democrats’ strong push for the abortion rights measure reflects a changing political dynamic in the party. In the past, Democratic leaders were reluctant to emphasize measures such as the women’s health bill for fear of putting centrists in swing districts in a tough position and potentially alienating voters.
However, the number of legislators in the party who support abortion rights has decreased as centrist Democrats have dwindled. Ms. Chu stated that she was surprised to find that colleagues from more competitive districts were eager to sign on to the measure.
“This is a pro-choice nation,” Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, a Democrat, was a major backer of the legislation. She spoke this week to the House Rules Committee, urging the panel to move the bill to its floor. “This is the majority view across most of the electorate.”
Multiple public opinion polls conducted since the Supreme Court agreed to take on the Mississippi case have reflected strong support for keeping abortion legal — nearly 60 percent in some surveys — though that support typically declines for abortions performed later in pregnancies.
Opponents claim that even though they support abortion rights in some way, many still want it to be tightly regulated and for states to set limits and safeguards.
“Our biggest issue is definitely that this takes away the ability of state lawmakers and local lawmakers to solve problems that they have identified and that their constituents raise,” Katie Glenn, American United for Life’s government affairs counselor, said that. “Thousands of state laws are at risk from this bill.”
Ms. Chu claimed that some of these laws needed to be rescinded because their real intent was to make abortion more difficult and discourage women seeking them. Although the measure was unlikely to clear the Senate, she said it was necessary that Democrats act given the Texas law and the probability of a major Supreme Court ruling after arguments set for December over Mississippi’s abortion restrictions.
“It is important for us to make a strong statement about what is possible in Congress,” Ms. Chu said, “to protect women’s freedom to make a choice.”