(Bloomberg) — The US House on Friday passed two bills aimed at protecting abortion access that, given the long odds for the legislation in the Senate, serve primarily as a political marker for Democrats ahead of the November midterm elections.
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The bills, passed largely along party lines three weeks after the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, now head to the Senate, where Republicans are expected to block the legislation if it is called up.
The Women’s Health Protection Act, sponsored by California Representative Judy Chu, would codify the right to an abortion and protect a woman’s ability to end a pregnancy before fetal viability. The other House-passed bill, the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act sponsored by Texas Representative Lizzie Fletcher, focuses on interstate abortion services, and aims to protect people and abortion clinics from prosecution.
“It’s time to put control of bodies back in our hands,” Chu said on the House floor.
After the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 decision that legalized abortion, President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats have maneuvered — mostly symbolically — to protect abortion access. The issue is key to mobilizing their political base in the lead up to the midterm elections which will determine control of both chambers of Congress.
Senate Democrats failed to push through legislation that would ensure nationwide access to abortion earlier this year amid resistance from Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to ending the filibuster, which requires 60 votes for most bills to advance.
“We need two more Democratic pro-choice senators so that we can eliminate the filibuster and make this legislation the law of the land,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
With legislative action unlikely, Biden recently directed the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure the availability of abortion pills, contraception, and emergency medical care for pregnant women in an executive order Friday. The Justice Department has also indicated it will offer free legal services to those who travel across state lines to obtain an abortion.
But Biden has stopped short of answering calls from progressive Democrats to build abortion clinics on federal lands, or declare a public health emergency.
Many Republicans opposed the bill for being too “radical” while some went further. Representative Kat Cammack of Florida called Chu’s bill “regressive, sexist, and racist” for allowing a mother to abort a child because of the baby’s race or sex.
House passage of the legislation comes just days after Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada attempted to pass a similar bill by unanimous consent on the floor of the Senate. Her bill, which would also protect women who travel across state lines to obtain an abortion, failed after Oklahoma Senator James Lankford blocked the bill.
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