The House passed a bill protecting access to birth control on Thursday. This was the latest step in Democrats’ larger campaign to have rights protected by federal law after the Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate the constitutional right to an abortion.
Eight Republicans joined every Democrat in voting in favor, resulting in a final vote of 228 to 195. The 195 “no” votes were all cast by Republicans.
Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Fred Upton of Michigan, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Maria Salazar of Florida, and Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio were the Republican members that voted in favor of it.
The Right to Contraption Act will now be considered by the Senate, where it is unlikely that it will have the backing of the necessary 10 Republicans to pass. The bill would guarantee that health care professionals have the right to offer patients contraception services, as well as create a legal right for people to obtain birth control and safeguard a variety of contraceptive techniques.
“We are not willing to play defense on this critically important issue,” Rep. Kathy Manning, a Democrat from North Carolina who sponsored the measure, said during a press conference to promote the bill on Wednesday. “We are playing offense.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Republicans of attempting to roll back the clock for American women by curtailing access to birth control, but declared “we are not going back.”
“This is their moment. Clarence Thomas has made that clear, right down to the fundamentals of privacy they want to erase,” Pelosi said of Republicans. “With this passage, Democrats will make clear we will never quit in the fight against the outrageous right-wing assault on freedom.”
The White House stated in a statement that access to birth control is “vital to ensuring all individuals have control over personal decisions about their own health, lives, and families” and that it backed approval of the proposal to safeguard the right to contraception.
The proposal about access to contraceptive services is Democrats’ response to the Supreme Court’s ruling last month to overturn Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion statewide. This legislation, along with another one that protects same-sex and interracial marriages, passed the House last week.
It raised concerns that other court-recognized rights, such as same-sex marriage and contraception, may suffer similar fates that other conservative justices, including the three members selected by former President Donald Trump, would vote to overturn.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a separate concurring opinion urging his colleagues to reexamine landmark decisions that recognized rights regarding contraception and same-sex relationships. While Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority that “nothing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the minority.
The court’s conservative majority’s rulings this term on the environment, religion, weapons, and abortion were not backed by any other justices, but Thomas’ dissent pushed Democrats to demand legislative retaliation.
The radical Republican legislators’ actions and the rallying cry from Justice Thomas are both about one thing: control, according to North Carolina Democrat Manning. We will not allow this to happen. These fanatics are seeking to take away our rights as women, including our ability to choose when to have children and our right to govern our own lives and bodies.
The Defense of Marriage Act would be repealed and same-sex and multiracial couples would have federal rights under the Respect for Marriage Act, which the House decisively approved on Tuesday. With two judgments involving same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court partially overturned the Clinton-era statute, although it has remained in effect.
The marriage equality bill was supported by all of the House Democrats as well as 47 Republicans, including Reps. Elise Stefanik of New York, the third-ranking Republican in the House, and Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
It’s uncertain if the marriage equality law can secure the Republican support necessary to end a filibuster in the Senate, similar to the legislation preserving access to contraceptive treatments. Although an increasing number of Republicans have indicated plans to vote in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell refuses to declare if he will support it on Tuesday.
Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said he “probably will” vote to codify the right to same-sex marriage into federal law, while Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio is a co-sponsor of the Senate’s version of the bill, according to his office. Republican senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine have both stated their support for preserving marriage equality.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke on Wednesday about gauging Republican support before bringing the bill to the floor.