WASHINGTON – An attempt to improve Americans’ access to contraception failed Wednesday when Republicans in the U.S. Senate blocked final passage of a bill to do so.
The 51-39 procedural vote required the approval of at least 60 senators to pass the bill, but it failed after Republican lawmakers said the measure was too broad and unnecessary. Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Senator Susan Collins of Maine broke with their party and voted to pass the bill.
The Democrats argued during the debate on the 12-page invoice that it would provide a safety net should a future Supreme Court overturn two cases ensuring that married and unmarried Americans have the right to decide for themselves when and how to utilize contraception.
GOP senators claimed the vote was purely political and that if Democrats were earnest about ensuring access to contraception for future generations, they would work with Republicans on a bipartisan bill.
Democratic Nevada State Senator Jacky Rosen said the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the constitutional right to abortion in the Dobbs ruling two years ago showed women how quickly things can change.
“It has shown that a fundamental right, namely the right of women to decide about their own bodies, can be taken away in an instant,” Rosen said.
In their opinion, women cannot rely solely on the Supreme Court to uphold the rulings that have guaranteed American women access to contraception for over 50 years.
“Millions of women have been using contraception safely for decades,” Rosen said. “It has enabled women to take control of their own bodies – to decide when they want to start a family, how many children they want to have, who they want to start a family with.”
“For precisely these reasons, the right to contraception has been a target of anti-abortion activists for years,” Rosen added.
John Thune, the Senate minority whip and a South Dakota Republican who is seeking to become the next Senate Republican leader, said the bill is intended to “give the Democratic candidates a talking point.”
“These votes are not about legislation, but solely about strengthening the Democrats’ chances in this fall’s elections,” Thune said, referring to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Thune says the law is a flop for many Republicans because it does not provide the conscience protections enshrined in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The Federal law, The law was passed in 1993 under Schumer’s auspices and established “a heightened standard of scrutiny for government actions that substantially interfere with a person’s exercise of religion.”
Senator Joe Manchin (IW.Va.) voted for the Right to Contraception Act.
“It’s simple: Contraception is an essential health tool that enables Americans to achieve their educational and employment goals, plan for their futures, and succeed in our communities,” Manchin said in a press release. “When I was Governor of West Virginia, we achieved a sensible balance between women’s access to health care and individual freedoms. I am proud to support commonsense, bipartisan solutions to ensure that women in every part of the country have access to safe, affordable, and reliable preventive health care.”
Sale of contraceptives
The Democrats’ bill would have protected “an individual’s ability to access contraceptives” and “a health care provider’s ability to provide contraceptives, contraception, and information related to contraception.”
The law would have prohibited state governments and the federal government from banning the sale of contraceptives or “preventing any person from assisting another person in voluntarily obtaining or using any contraceptive device or method of contraception.”
The bill defines contraception as “a measure to prevent pregnancy, including the use of contraceptives or fertility education methods and sterilization procedures.”
Democrats in the House of Representatives introduced an identical bill That chamber will vote on the bill on Tuesday, but it is unlikely to come to a vote as long as Republicans remain in control.
Opinion of the Supreme Court
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas fueled concerns about access to contraception two years ago when he consensus in the Dobbs case.
Thomas wrote that the justices should “reconsider all of this Court’s precedents on due process, including Griswold, Lawrence and Obergefell.”
None of the other nine justices joined Thomas in writing this opinion, which was probably a sign that they disagreed with the opinion in part or in whole.
In Griswold v. Connecticut, a 1965 case, the Court recognized for the first time that married couples’ constitutional right to privacy could extend to decisions about contraception. The ruling struck down a Connecticut state law that prohibited access to contraception.
In 1972, in Eisenstadt v. Baird, the Supreme Court extended the right to make private decisions about contraception to unmarried people.
After Thomas’s concurring opinion was published, Democrats and reproductive rights organizations immediately began pushing for federal legislation that would improve access to contraception. Congress has yet to pass any.
Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, said during a press conference with Senate Democrats Wednesday before the vote that women should talk to their mothers and grandmothers about when they were first able to get contraception.
“When we talk about the generations of women in this country who didn’t have access to contraception, we’re only talking about my mother’s generation – 1965,” Timmaraju said. “That wasn’t that long ago and that should really be a wake-up call.”
White House and Biden campaign speak out
The Biden administration signaled its support for the Senate Democrats’ bill a few hours before the vote, writing in a Statement of administrative policy The measure “would protect the fundamental right to access contraception and help women make decisions about their health, their lives and their families.”
“Women must have the freedom to make deeply personal decisions about their health, including the right to decide whether and when to start or expand a family,” the directive states. “Now is the time to secure the right to contraception once and for all.”
The Biden-Harris campaign held a reproductive rights press conference Wednesday morning to highlight differences between the presidential candidates on reproductive rights, including access to abortion, contraception and in vitro fertilization.
Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden and Harris’ campaign manager, said during the call that Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, couldn’t be further away from Biden in terms of access.
Rodriguez said Trump’s Comments during an interview with TIME magazine in April and his Testify to a local television news station in Pennsylvania in May that he does not support women’s reproductive rights.
Decisions about contraception, abortion and in vitro fertilization rest with women and their doctors, “not with politicians and the government,” Rodriguez said.
North Carolina Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, a member of the Biden-Harris campaign advisory board, said in the conference call that this year’s election will be a “defining moment” for the country.
He said Republican efforts to restrict access to reproductive health care meant they were trying to “control women.”
Serious alternative proposal
Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst said during the debate on the bill that the Democrats’ bill went too far and urged the Senate to address a bill introduced by her earlier this week.
Since then, the measure has gained nine co-signers, including Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Steve Daines of Montana, Todd Young of Indiana, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Ted Cruz of Texas, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, James E. Risch of Idaho and John Cornyn of Texas.
According to an announcement from Ernst’s office, Iowa Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson plans to introduce the bill in the House of Representatives.
“With my bill, we will ensure that women ages 18 and older can walk into any pharmacy, whether in Red Oak, Iowa or Washington, DC, and purchase a safe and effective method of contraception,” Ernst said. “This Republican bill provides priority review of over-the-counter contraception to prompt the FDA to act quickly.”
Ernst said she was “encouraging” that an over-the-counter oral contraceptive was approved and available, but that it should be “just a starting point.”
The four-page bill is intended to encourage the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve more over-the-counter oral contraceptives and “direct the United States Controller General to conduct a study on government funding of contraceptives.”
“Despite the falsehoods Democrats spread about contraceptive access, contraception is actually legal throughout the United States,” Capito said in a press release. “While Democrats continue to hold sham votes on extreme legislation, I am proud to support Senator Ernst in this effort that provides a common-sense path for easier access to safe contraception, including for people in rural areas. By increasing over-the-counter contraceptive options and better understanding where federal contraceptive funding is currently going, we can better address the gaps that could be affecting access and duplicating or misallocating resources.”
The bill would require the Secretary of Health to give priority to reviewing an additional application for oral contraceptives that are “intended for routine use.” However, this would not extend to “emergency contraception drugs” or “drugs that are also approved for induced abortion.”
Access to over-the-counter oral contraceptives that receive FDA approval, no longer requiring a prescription, would be available to people over 18 years of age.
