Schumer to Force Senate Vote on Actually Legislating Abortion Access, Now That SCOTUS May No Longer Impose It

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Seeking to fend off an imminent imaginary national ban on abortion, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced his intention on Thursday to force a vote to mandate abortion availability throughout the country.

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“Next week, the U.S. Senate is going to vote on legislation to codify a woman’s right to seek abortion into federal law,” Schumer promised righteously from the floor of the Senate.

“Next week, the American people will see crystal clear that when given the chance to right this wrong,” vowed Schumer, referring to the leaked SCOTUS majority opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, “the Republican Party will either side with the extremists who want to ban abortion without exceptions or side with women, with families, and with the vast majority of Americans.”

Yet despite Schumer’s implication, the high court’s decision actually takes no side in the abortion debate, and it certainly does nothing to ban the practice. Each state would be free to abort tons of babies if it wants to.

Related: The Most Radical Abortion Law in the Nation

The measure isn’t expected to pass the split Senate, as it would require 60 votes to bring it to the floor for debate. Democrats are also unable to muster the 50 votes they would need to demolish precedent and nuke the filibuster.

But Schumer’s true objective appears to be embarrassing Republicans by forcing them to pick a side on the issue in an election year.

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“A vote on this legislation is not an abstract exercise. This is as urgent and real as it gets,” he claimed, before going on to say, “We will vote to protect a woman’s right to choose, and every American is going to see which side every senator stands [sic].”

However, this tactic already failed to intimidate Senate Republicans when it was attempted in February of this year. Democrats tried to bring H.R.3755 — the “Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021” (WHPA), which had already passed the House in September 2021 — to the floor. The attempt fell flat, as Republican senators were joined by Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) in rejecting it.

Ahead of next week’s vote, Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) have been working on a revised version of the WHPA in hopes of making the legislation more palatable to enough Republicans. The original bill that was passed by the House is ridiculous in many ways, including its incessant reference to pregnant “people” and its assertion that “Reproductive justice seeks to address restrictions on reproductive health, including abortion, that perpetuate systems of oppression, lack of bodily autonomy, white supremacy, and anti-Black racism.”

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It’s deeply satisfying to see legislators forced to build consensus to pass their abortion regimen fair and square. Once again, we must pause and thank President Trump for smacking the magic wand of SCOTUS diktat out of the Democrats’ grasping hands.

Angry Democrats are working overtime to turn the expected SCOTUS ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization into a white-hot rallying issue in an attempt to save their deeply unpopular hides in the November midterm elections. Unfortunately for them, by November the ruling will have long since taken effect, and abortions will continue to be plentiful wherever most people want them. Voters will realize that Dobbs did not end the world and will prioritize actual world-ending threats such as nuclear war, famine, and endless uncontrolled immigration, all brought on by Democrats.

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