WASHINGTON— Senate Democrats plan to mark the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision by pushing legislation centered on reproductive health and access — an attempt to put Republicans on defense on the hot-button issue, even though the legislation itself isn’t expected to pass.
Democrats need the “unanimous consent” of all 100 senators for the bills to move forward, and they don’t have that. But for Democrats, pushing the issue to the fore is the point.
“Senate Democrats will force Republicans to go on the record once again, and explain to the American people why they refuse to codify our right to contraception, why they refuse to let women travel across state lines for lifesaving health care,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said in a statement, saying the year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade has led to “a full-blown health care crisis.”
Democrats will seek to bring up four pieces of what they say is “common-sense” legislation this week, focused on ensuring access to contraception and birth control, guaranteeing women can travel freely across state lines for health care (including abortions), bolstering data privacy for online health and location data and protecting doctors and other medical professionals for continuing to provide abortion care.
Top White House officials will be at a series of major events this week. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will appear at an event with the Democratic National Committee and three major reproductive rights groups Friday. First lady Jill Biden will host a roundtable conversation at the White House with women denied medical care in the year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe. And then Harris — the leading figure from the administration on the issue — will host a major speech on the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina.
But despite the widespread strategy for more public attention, most abortion-rights advocates agree that the true legislative fight is at the state level, at least for now. Democrats in both chambers of Congress plan to leverage the issue of reproductive freedom once again next year, building on the way the issue galvanized voters in their favor in the 2022 midterms.
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