Democrats held a vote in the US Senate on Wednesday to convert abortion rights into federal law in a bid to bend Republicans on a deeply divisive issue ahead of the crucial midterm elections in November.
The action took place amid the political storm caused by the leak of the Supreme Court draft to the press. The Conservative majority of the House, in Roe v. Wade, 1973, guarantees the right to abortion throughout the country.
Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned that if that decision is upheld by June 30, when the Supreme Court rules on the matter, “tens of millions of women will see their liberties curtailed in the blink of an eye.”
The “Women’s Health Protection” bill, already passed in the House of Representatives, creates a federal statute that guarantees health care providers the right to have abortions and patients the right to have abortions.
60 votes are needed to support a final vote in the 100-member Senate, evenly split between Republicans and Democrats/Independents.
And even if they do vote, Democrats won’t have the 51 votes needed to pass the bill. His supporter, Joe Manchin, opposes abortion and voted against a nearly identical version of the bill with Republicans last February.
Only two Republicans in the Upper House who support abortion rights, Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, opposed the text that was commended in February.
source: Noticias
