But Democrats have largely panned the Collins-Murkowski effort as insufficient. The two Republican senators who support abortion access – Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who faces her own re-election in November, and Susan Collins of Maine – are also no votes, having proposed their own more tailored approach to counter the Supreme Court’s potential action.īoth of the Republican senators, who voted to confirm most of former President Donald Trump’s justices, are in talks over alternatives. Senator Susan Collins, from Maine, left, speaks with Senator Dianne Feinstein, from California, as senators arrive before a procedural vote on the Women's Health Protection Act. Bills would come up for votes – to expand or limit services – only to fail along party lines or be stripped out of broader legislative packages. In recent years, abortion debates have come to a political draw in Congress. White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration's position has been clear: “We will defend women’s constitutional rights recognised in Roe v Wade.” Whatever the Supreme Court says this year will almost guarantee a new phase of political fighting in Congress over abortion policy, filibuster rules and the most basic rights to health care, privacy and protecting the unborn. The draft court ruling on a case from Mississippi suggested the majority of conservative justices are prepared to end the federal right to abortion, leaving it to the states to decide. Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, from Alaska, speaks to an aide as senators arrive before a procedural vote on the Women's Health Protection Act to codify the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision that legalised abortion nationwide. Polls showing most Americans want to preserve access to abortion in the earlier stages of pregnancy, but views are more nuanced and mixed when it comes to later-term abortions. Some other Republicans, including Senator John Thune of South Dakota, argue that the House-passed bill is more extreme than Roe, and would expand abortion access beyond what is already the law in the US and other leading countries around the world.Ībout half the states already have approved laws that would further restrict or ban abortions, including some trigger laws that would take effect once the court rules. “This issue will be dealt with at the state level,” McConnell said. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, an architect of the effort to install conservative justices on the Supreme Court – including three during the Trump era – has sought to downplay the outcome of any potential changes in federal abortion policy. The Biden administration's position has been clear: “We will defend women’s constitutional rights recognised in Roe v Wade.”
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