[News]Democrats’ abortion rights bill failed in the US Senate | Abortion bill | Roe v. Wade | US Congress

[Epoch Times, May 12, 2022](Epoch Times reporter Wang Xiang comprehensive report) Wednesday (May 11), with strong opposition from Republicans and opposition from a Democratic senator, aims to make abortion legal nationwide The “Democratic Bill” (also known as the Abortion Rights Act) failed in the Senate.

The bill was introduced by Democrats seeking to block a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on abortion rights in the coming weeks.

On Wednesday, the Senate rejected the abortion-rights bill by a vote of 51-49.

According to a draft opinion of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority, which has been leaked to the media, their preliminary vote is to overturn the ruling in Roe V. Wade, which contains the constitutional right to abortion. At that point, states are expected to decide their own abortion policies.

According to The Politician, the Supreme Court has five justices — Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas—supported the overturn of Roe v. Wade, while Roberts, a conservative, disagreed.

The Supreme Court’s final decision is expected within a few months.

The leaked draft does not represent the final vote of the justices or the final opinion of the Supreme Court. However, the draft has aroused great attention in the American society to this controversial issue and is also linked to the 2022 midterm elections.

Reuters reported that Democrats introduced the bill as “a protest gesture that never had a chance of success.”

With at least 41 senators speaking out against the bill, Democrats could not reach 60 of 100 Senate votes to advance their bill.

Democrats hope the vote will help more Democratic candidates have a chance to win in the Nov. 8 midterm elections, despite widely expected failures, the report said.

The impact of the abortion issue on the midterm elections is unclear. The economy, inflation and Biden’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak may matter more to nonpartisan voters.

Ahead of the vote, more than two dozen House Democrats, mostly women, marched from the House to the Senate, chanting “My body, I call it,” before entering the Senate chamber to hear senators debate abortion rights.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said ahead of Wednesday’s vote: “The question before the Senate is simple. Will this House stand up when women’s rights face the greatest threat in half a century? , protect the basic right of choice?

“Or, five unelected judges…will take a fundamental right from millions of women in this country?”

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called Wednesday’s vote a partisan show. Republican Senator John Cornyn called the legislation “a radical on-demand abortion bill” that goes beyond Roe v. Wade “essentially moving abortion from conception to delivery” can be done as needed.”

Notably, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin expressed opposition to the bill. He said the bill was too broad to get his vote.

In a bid to garner party support, Democrats have made changes to the earliest version of the bill, including removing a non-binding “Findings” section that called restricting abortion a continuation of “white supremacy,” saying it as a “tool of gender oppression”.

Key elements of the bill, according to a Congressional Research Service report, would prevent the government from restricting the ability of doctors to prescribe certain drugs or prevent doctors from providing immediate abortions when delays would jeopardize a patient’s health.

It also prevents the government from requiring patients to make “medically unnecessary visits” prior to an abortion, and prevents the government from requiring patients to disclose why they are seeking an abortion.

The bill also seeks to broadly prevent the government from enacting laws, or establishing similar restrictions, that would name “a place that provides abortion services alone, a health care provider that provides abortion services, or an institution that provides abortion services” and hinders patients’ access to abortion services.

Responsible editor: Lin Yan#