WASHINGTON — The House is scheduled to vote Friday on two bills aimed at protecting abortion rights in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade ruling.
Lawmakers will vote on an updated version of the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would codify abortion rights protections into federal law, and the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act, which would ban states from punishing those who travel out of state for reproductive health care.
July 13, 202202:45
The House last passed the Women’s Health Protection Act in September following the implementation of one of the nation’s most restrictive laws in Texas and a wave of bans in other states. The bill was narrowly approved in a party-line vote, but it has faced a dead end in the Senate, where the 60-vote procedural hurdle has allowed Republicans to block it from advancing. Republicans in that chamber have already blocked the Senate Democrats’ version of the travel bill.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday that Democrats are taking action to defend the right to productive freedom.
“Women’s health decisions are her own,” she said at her weekly press conference. “They don’t belong to politicians in Washington, D.C. or in state capitols or in the Supreme Court of the United States. They belong to a woman, her family, her God, her doctor, her loved ones.”
Votes on the two measures come after multiple committees held hearings this week in the House and Senate on the impact of the high court’s decision. Members of the panels heard testimony about abortion providers worried about breaking state laws that restrict abortions and concerns over access. Republicans, meanwhile, emphasized that the Supreme Court’s ruling simply handed the issue back to state legislatures.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order last week that aims to safeguard access to reproductive health care services, including abortion and contraception; protect patients’ privacy and access to accurate information; and promote the safety and security of patients, providers and clinics. The administration’s subsequent guidance stating that federal law allows women access to abortion in emergencies, even in states that banned the procedure, drew a lawsuit from Texas on Thursday.
Biden and top Democrats have been urging people to turn out to vote in November to elect pro-abortion rights candidates and have been warning that Republicans intend to enact a federal abortion ban.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
