The US House of Representatives will vote on two bills on Friday that seek to protect access to abortion at the federal level following the controversial Roe v. Wade ruling by the Supreme Court.
Democrats filed the legislation to counter the Supreme Court's decision to overturn long-standing legal precedent by ruling that the right to an abortion is no longer a federal constitutional protected right.
The two bills are expected to be passed by the majority of Democrats in the House, but neither one will have enough support to get past the 60-vote threshold in the Senate, where the blockade is likely to be employed.
What Do the Bills Indicate?
According to a report from CNN, the Women's Health Protection Act of 2022 (HR 8296), is one of the two measures the House will vote on. Sponsored by Democratic Rep. Judy Chu of California, it aims to maintain access to abortion nationwide. The legislation has been a top priority for Democrats, and a previous version of the law passed in the House.
However, the Senate has denied it. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a moderate Democrat, voted against the bill along with Republicans in a crucial Senate vote in May, preventing it from moving forward.
Nevertheless, the vote's outcome demonstrated how Democrats' options for protecting access to abortion remain severely constrained because they only hold a small Senate majority.
On Friday, House Democrats will also introduce HR 8297, the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022, which is sponsored by Texas Democrat Lizzie Fletcher.
The legislation would forbid anybody from restricting or obstructing a person's capacity to traverse state lines to get an abortion in a state where doing so is permitted. The goal of the legislation is to safeguard the right to travel to seek access to abortion, per AP News.
The bill is up for a vote at a time when states are implementing their abortion laws as a result of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. As a result of the decision, there is currently a hodgepodge system in place across the country where, for many people, access to the procedure depends largely on whether a state is ruled by Republicans or Democrats.
According to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the legislation aims to bring "Roe v. Wade into the law of the land and protects it from some of the assaults that have occurred since it became overturned by the Supreme Court."
It would suspend abortion bans before 24 weeks, which is when fetal viability, or the capacity of a human fetus to thrive outside the uterus, is generally believed to begin. When a practitioner decides that the mother's life or health is in danger, the bill permits exceptions for abortions performed after fetal viability.
Pelosi Urge Voters To Elect More Democratic Legislators
In the meantime, the Democratic National Committee has already started a digital ad campaign to rally voters on the subject and warn that the primary objective of the Republicans is to criminalize abortion nationally, as reported by NBC New York.
Pelosi urged the public "to elect a couple more Democratic senators" to "get around the filibuster" so the "legislation that truly impacts a woman's right to choose" will surely be passed into law.
"There's no halfway measure," the House Speaker said.
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