Democrats unlikely to pass abortion rights law in Senate

Washington- Leaked Supreme Court Opinion Draft It will overturn the Roe v. Wade case. It adds new urgency to the ongoing democratic efforts to pass federal law in Congress to protect the right to abortion.

“My intention is for the Senate to vote on a bill that legislate the right to abortion, as the court is ready to defeat Roe,” said Senate leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. Said on Tuesday. , 12 hours after Politico announced the bomb draft opinion.

Other Democrats stuck more. “Parliament must pass a law that now codifies the Roe v. Wade case as a law on the land of the country,” said independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. “And if the Senate doesn’t have 60 votes to do that, then 50 votes must end the filibuster to get it through.”

As Sanders points out, in order to pass such a law, Democrats must first have 50 Senators agree to change the Senate’s filibuster rules. Only then can they pass an abortion protection law with a simple majority.

But even changing filibuster seems nearly impossible.

Already this year, two Democratic senators have said they opposed changing the filibuster to pass the Voting Rights Act: Joe Manchin, West Virginia and Kristen Cinema, Arizona.

In the case of voting rights, President Joe Biden has signaled that he agrees to change the rules if the bill can pass the Senate. But in another example, Biden also states that he opposes changes to the Senate Filibuster Rules.

The president may argue that if the Democratic Party changes its rules to pass sacred bills such as election and abortion rights, the Republicans are free to do the same the next time they rule the Senate. Often.

This could open Pandora’s box of potential consequences that Biden warned Democrats both publicly and privately.

A Republican-controlled Senate may pass some of the national federal abortion restrictions using only a 50-vote threshold, or similarly severely restrict access to voting. It’s not hard to imagine going through the traditional voter ID law.

Nonetheless, many progressives are monuments to the constitutional right, which is based on an overly cautious and procedural response to what they say, Biden’s justification for sticking to the rules of filibuster. Reject as a threat.

Still, both legal scholars and political analysts say Biden’s fear of unleashing conservative freedom seems more justified today than it was a few years ago.

Democrats were on the rise for most of the Trump era. They first rebuilt the House of Representatives in 2018 and then the Senate in 2020.

But now their roles are reversed. Republicans are currently backing to gain control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the November midterm elections. If current trends are maintained, Republicans have a chance to beat the president in 2024.

Even though the Filibuster Reform Bill could pass the Senate, the House of Representatives’ current law to protect the right to abortion, the Women’s Health Protection Act, still faces major hurdles. I am.

Manchin, a self-proclaimed pro-life Democrat, was the only member of his party in the Senate who voted against the promotion of women’s health protection earlier this year.

On Tuesday, Manchin refused to answer questions about whether to change the filibuster or support the enactment of the right to abortion.

And unless Manchin is on board to pass the final abortion protection law, great efforts to suspend filibuster will begin to seem pointless.

This may help explain why Biden wasn’t enough to demand filibuster reform following Monday’s announcement of the draft opinion.

If the Supreme Court overturned Roe, Biden said: “”Protecting women’s choices will be left to our civil servants elected at all levels of government. “

“And it will be up to voters to elect a pro-choice official in November of this year.”