WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats held a press conference Tuesday to advocate for reproductive rights and freedoms, criticizing a conservative think tank’s plan that, if passed, would make access to abortion and contraception more hard under the Trump administration.
Lawmakers highlighted the potential restrictions former President Donald Trump could impose on reproductive health care if elected in November, as outlined in Project 2025a nearly 1,000-page conservative policy proposal.
The plan calls for a restructuring of the federal government that aligns with Trump’s political beliefs. The Trump campaign has said other groups are not advocating for the project, but the project will be led by former staff members, including the chief of staff of the Trump administration’s Office of Personnel Management.
Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington state, former chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, led the press conference. She was joined by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Senators Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Jacky Rosen of Nevada.
Murray said Project 2025, designed by the conservative Heritage Foundation, would jeopardize nationwide access to reproductive care.
“Donald Trump and his allies are planning and have issued a detailed plan to strip women of their right to self-determination in every single state in America,” she said.
Comstock Law
Murray addressed the concerns, the Comstock Acta central element of the Republicans’ legal argument to restrict access to abortion in the United States.
In 1873, Congress passed a law prohibiting the mailing of obscene material, including abortion materials. In some interpretations of the law, the law could be used to forbid Shipping chemical abortion pills such as mifepristone. The Supreme Court last week unanimously rejected an attempt by anti-abortion groups to restrict access to mifepristone.
Abortion pills accounted for 63% of Abortions in the United States in 2023, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights nonprofit.
In accordance with the Roe v. Wade ruling, which upheld abortion rights, chemical abortion pills were protected and it was legal to mail them. In December 2022, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe, the Justice Department certainly Despite the Comstock Act, it is still legal to mail drugs like mifepristone.
Still, Republicans could potentially exploit the Comstock Act to restrict access to abortion under a second Trump presidency, according to the Project 2025 document. Schumer highlighted a quote from Jonathan F. Mitchell, an architect of Project 2025 and a lifelong anti-abortion activist, at Tuesday’s press conference.
“We don’t need a federal ban if we have Comstock on the books,” Mitchell said. quoted in the New York Times.
In May, Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota announced that she plans to introduce Legislation to completely repeal the Comstock Act.
Murray told reporters at Tuesday’s event that the Justice Department has said Republicans cannot exploit the Comstock Act to restrict access to abortion.
“Let me be very clear,” Murray said. “Our Justice Department has been very clear that Comstock does not apply.”
IVF legislation
Schumer criticized the Republicans for blocking Duckworth’s IVF access bill last week. The bill needed 60 votes to advance, but only receive 48. Only two Republican senators voted to continue the bill: Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
“Over the past two weeks, Senate Republicans have shown that despite all their attempts to sound moderate on the issue of reproductive care, they are choosing MAGA extremism when it comes to voting,” Schumer said.
Schumer announced that he had begun drafting a novel law. Law on Women’s Reproductive Freedomon the legislative session. The bill, co-sponsored by Murray and every Democratic woman in the Senate, would express Congress’s view that lawmakers should “enshrine Roe’s protections in law,” Schumer said.
Trump Appointments
The power of the courts was also a central theme for politicians at the press conference.
Klobuchar, who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, pointed out that Trump’s appointments to federal courts had a major impact not only on the overturning of the Roe decision, but also on the nationwide restrictions on reproductive care, including abortion.
She stressed that judges will play a critical role in protecting standing and preventing extreme measures from a potential Trump administration. Senate Democrats are battling to retain control of the chamber in November’s elections.
“Every judge we confirm makes a difference,” she said. “We know the American people are behind us. They agree with us when it comes to having judges who actually respect the law.”
During his first term, Trump appointed three Judge to the Supreme Court: Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. All three were confirmed as judges by the Senate and remain significant to write opinions well beyond Trump’s term in office.
Planned Parenthood
At Tuesday’s event, senators addressed a number of Project 2025 plans that Democrats oppose. For example, the plan says the Department of Health and Human Services should clarify that states can cut funding to Planned Parenthood in their Medicaid plans and propose rules to exclude Planned Parenthood from Medicaid.
“Planned Parenthood is often the only option for low-income women seeking contraception,” Hirono said.
Hirono also pointed out that under Project 2025, it was proposed to change the name of the Ministry of Health and Human Services to the Ministry of Life.
“This is not about protecting life,” Hirono said. “This is about power and control and the Republicans’ obsession with controlling women’s bodies.”
Duckworth expressed her frustration with Republicans who tell American voters they care about women’s rights but don’t vote to protect them.
“When things get serious and we don’t just demand empty words on Twitter before they vote, they won’t lift a finger to protect the women of this country,” she said.
Murray vowed to protect women’s rights regardless of the outcome of the November election.
“We are fighting back,” Murray said. “We are doing everything we can to protect women’s rights, and we will block anything the Trump administration tries to do.”
