Who can forget 2022? Roe v. Wade
Fox News personalities remember the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization as she arrived at the Supreme Court.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is planning a vote on the “constitutional right to contraception,” in an election-year measure aimed at protecting Democrats' control of the Senate.
The majority leader is expected to expedite a vote next month on the Right to Contraception Act. Although it likely won't pass given that most Republicans oppose the bill, Schumer wants to put opposing party senators on the record about access to contraception and birth control during an election year, The New York reported. Times.
The text of the bill says it “establishes legal protections for an individual's right of access and a health care provider's right to provide contraceptives and related information.”
“This is a clarifying political vote that will put on record that all Republicans know whether or not they believe in the constitutional right to contraception,” the bill's lead sponsor, Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., told the New York Times. .
TRUMP SAYS HE WILL 'NEVER SUPPORT IMPOSITION OF RESTRICTIONS ON BIRTH CONTROL' OR OTHER CONTRACEPTIVES
WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 21: US Senate Majority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks during a press conference outside the US Capitol on May 21, 2024 in Washington, D.C. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) held a press conference on reproductive rights. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Last year, Senate Republicans blocked Markey's attempt to pass a version of the bill without debate, arguing that the legislation could also apply to abortion-inducing pills, not simply birth control.
Repeating the strategy used in 2022 after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Senate Democrats are criticizing Republicans not only on abortion, but also on birth control and access to contraceptives.
Schumer hosted a news conference outside the Capitol on Tuesday with Planned Parenthood doctors dedicated to discussing “how Republican abortion bans are harming health care providers and worsening access to care for millions of people.” She stated that “far-right Republicans have been systematically working to dismantle a woman's fundamental right to choose, and they have been working at it for decades.”
“So today we are here to say loud and clear that Democrats stand with our nation's women and health care providers,” Schumer said. “We will never, ever stop fighting these Republican attacks. We will never, ever stop fighting to take back these rights from far-right extremists who want to impose their views on a country that overwhelmingly disagrees with them.”
The planned vote comes after Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, earlier this month vetoed a contraceptive access measure that had been passed by the Democratic-controlled state legislature, stating at the time: “I support access to contraceptives. However, we cannot trample on the religious freedoms of Virginians.” He said access to contraceptives is already protected by the Constitution.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and President Biden during an American Jewish Heritage Month reception in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday, May 20, 2024. (Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
TRUMP SAYS ABORTION SHOULD BE DECIDED BY THE STATES, 'WILL OF THE PEOPLE'
On Tuesday, Schumer also directly attacked former President Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
“The most extreme elements of the Republican Party have made clear their mission to eliminate this freedom of choice,” Schumer said. “And we can't forget that Donald Trump said just a few weeks ago that he was 'proud' to be the person who paved the way to overturn Roe. Make no mistake, he will do it again if, God forbid, he becomes president. “So that was the word President Trump used: 'proud.' He doesn't even hide it. So with the Dobbs decision, they opened the floodgates for draconian and cruel bans on women's choice across America.”
Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments in Manhattan Criminal Court on May 21, 2024. Trump said he will never defend restrictions on birth control. (Curtis Means-Pool/Getty Images)
But on Tuesday, Trump outlined his stance in a post on TRUTH Social, making clear that he will not seek to restrict access to contraceptives if he regains the presidency.
“I HAVE NEVER AND WILL NEVER ADVOCATE THE IMPOSITION OF RESTRICTIONS ON BIRTH CONTROL or other contraceptives,” Trump wrote. “This is a lie manufactured by the Democrats, DISINFORMATION/DISINFORMATION, because they have nothing else to base it on except FAILURE, POVERTY AND DEATH. I DO NOT SUPPORT BANING BIRTH CONTROL, AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY DOES NOT WILL DO!”
Previously, the Times had insisted on an interview Trump did with KDKA, a CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in which he did not make clear where he stood on the issue.
Asked Monday if he supported “restrictions on a person's right to contraception,” Trump told KDKA: “We're looking at that and I'm going to have a policy on that very soon.”
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“And I think it's something that you'll find interesting, and it's another topic that's very interesting, but I think you'll find it very smart. I think it's a smart decision,” he said.
Asked at the time if he supported the restrictions, Trump added: “You know, things really have a lot to do with the states, and some states will have different policies than others.”
