The House voted on a pair of bills aimed at restoring abortion rights nationwide in Democrats’ first legislative response to the Supreme Court’s landmark decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
The Women’s Health Protection Act of 2022 passed the House with a vote of 219-210 and is an updated version of a bill the House passed in September to enact the right to an abortion and prohibit states from imposing limits on abortions that could make them more difficult or costly to obtain. The Senate failed to pass a version of this bill in May.
The bill has little chance of becoming law because it lacks sufficient support in the 50-50 Senate. Yet voting marks the beginning of a new era in the debate as lawmakers, governors and legislatures grapple with the impact of the court’s decision.
The House also passed a measure to ban states from interfering with a woman’s right to travel to obtain an abortion, the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act. It passed 223-205 but is also likely to fail in the Senate.
“Just three weeks ago the Supreme Court took a wrecking ball to the fundamental rights by overturning Roe v. Wade,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ahead of the votes, gathering with other Democratic women on the steps of the Capitol. “It is outrageous that 50 years later, women must again fight for our most basic rights against an extremist court.”
Republicans spoke forcefully against the bills, praising the Supreme Court’s decision and warning the that the legislation would go further than Roe ever did when it comes to legalizing abortion.
Urging her colleagues to vote no, Washington Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers called abortion “the greatest human rights issue of our generation.”
She said the Democratic legislation “has nothing to do with protecting the health of women. It has everything to do with forcing an extreme agenda on the American people.”
In overturning Roe, the court has allowed states to enact strict abortion limits, including many that had previously been deemed unconstitutional. The ruling is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states.
Already, a number of GOP-controlled states have moved quickly to limit or outlaw abortion, while states controlled by Democrats have sought to champion access. Voters now rank abortion as among the most pressing issues facing the country, a shift in priorities that Democrats hope will reshape the political landscape in their favor for the midterm elections.
The House bill would expand on the protections Roe had previously provided by banning what supporters say are medically unnecessary restrictions that block access to safe and accessible abortions. It would prevent abortion bans earlier than 24 weeks, which is when fetal viability, the ability of a human fetus to survive outside the uterus, is generally thought to begin. It allows exceptions for abortions after fetal viability when a provider determines the life or health of the mother is at risk.
The Democrats’ proposal would also prevent states from requiring providers to share “medically inaccurate” information, or from requiring additional tests or waiting periods, often aimed at dissuading a patient from having an abortion.
The bill that would prohibit punishment for traveling out of state would also specify that doctors can’t be punished for providing reproductive care outside their home state. Democratic Rep. Lizzie Fletcher of Texas, one of the bill’s authors, said the threats to travel “fail to reflect the fundamental rights that are granted in our Constitution.”
Democrats including President Biden have highlighted the case of a 10-year-old girl who had to cross state lines into Indiana to get an abortion after being raped, calling it an example of how the court’s decision is already having severe consequences.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar said on the Senate floor Thursday, “We don’t have to imagine why this might matter. We don’t need to conjure up hypotheticals. We already know what’s happened.”
She added, “Should the next little 10-year-old’s right or 12-year-old’s right or 14-year-old’s right to get the care that she desperately needs be put in jeopardy?”
The Constitution doesn’t explicitly say travel between states is a right, though the Supreme Court has said it is a right that “has been firmly established and repeatedly recognized.” Yet the court has never said exactly where the right to travel comes from and that could leave it open to challenge or elimination, as the right to an abortion was.
Lawmakers in Missouri earlier this year, for example, considered making it illegal to “aid or abet” abortions that violate Missouri law, even if they occur out of state. The proposal was ultimately shelved.
Democrats have teed up more bills for passage in the coming weeks. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Friday that the House will vote next week on legislation guaranteeing a right to contraception.
GOP Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, who supports instituting a nationwide ban on abortion, accused his colleagues across the aisle Thursday of seeking to “inflame” the issue of abortion. He said proponents of the travel bill should ask themselves, “Does the child in the womb have the right to travel in their future?”
Only two Senate Republicans, Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, have supported abortion rights, but they do not support the Democrats’ proposal, calling it too far-reaching. They have introduced alternative legislation that would bar states from placing an “undue burden” on a woman’s ability to obtain an abortion before fetal viability, among other provisions.
When pressed Thursday on whether Democrats should work with the two senators, Pelosi pushed back, “We’re not going to negotiate a woman’s right to choose.”
Since the court’s ruling last month, some activists have accused Mr. Biden and other top Democrats of failing to respond forcefully enough to the decision. The president, who denounced the court’s ruling as “extreme,” last week issued an executive order intended to head off some potential penalties that women seeking abortion may face. His administration has also warned medical providers that they must offer abortion if the life of the mother is at risk.
However, Mr. Biden has stressed that his ability to protect abortion rights by executive action is limited, and it’s up to Congress to provide nationwide protections.
“Ultimately, Congress is going to have to act to codify Roe into federal law,” Mr. Biden said last week during a virtual meeting with Democratic governors. And he called on Americans to help make that a reality. “We need two additional pro-choice senators and a pro-choice House to codify Roe as federal law,” the president said. “Your vote can make that a reality.”
Rebecca Kaplan contributed to this report.
