Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to hold a vote on legislation to codify abortion rights next week in the fallout of the leaked preliminary Supreme Court opinion.
'This is real and as urgent as it gets,' the New York Democrat said, announcing that the vote would be held on Wednesday.
Though Schumer said it would be one of the 'most important' votes the Senate would take, the legislation is likely to fail in the split Senate. Abortion legislation would need 60 votes to break a filibuster.
And when Democrats held a vote on the Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA) in February, it got just 46 votes. The party's efforts to eliminate a decades-old ban on federal funding of abortions also died out in the Senate after passing in the House.
The WHPA passed the House mainly along party lines, 218-211, last September. Republicans have argued the bill goes too far - basically eliminating a state's right to put restrictions on abortion.
Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have both expressed support for abortion rights - and disappointment in the high court's preliminary decision - but both have called the WHPA too broad. Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin, W. Va., also voted agains the bill previously.
Collins said she also worried the Democrats' bill could do away with the Hyde Amendment.
Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to hold a vote on legislation to codify abortion rights next week in the fallout of the leaked preliminary Supreme Court opinion
The bill would protect a woman's right to end her pregnancy at least until 'fetal viability,' about 22 to 24 weeks, and would require abortions be legal up until birth if 'when, in the good-faith medical judgment of the treating health care provider, continuation of the pregnancy would pose a risk to the pregnant patient's life or health.' The bill directs courts to 'liberally' interpret the legislation. The bill's chief sponsor in the Senate, Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said that the bill 'doesn't distinguish' between physical and mental health in decisions on late-term abortions.
The bill would eliminate any restrictions put in place by states pre-viability, such as requiring special admitting privileges for providers or imposing waiting periods. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had brought the bill for a vote after Texas' ban on abortions after six weeks.
Now, Schumer is responding to a leaked draft Supreme Court opinion obtained by Politico indicating that a majority of justices are in favor of overturning 1973 Roe v. Wade and 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey, tossing abortion
