Senate Republicans block bill to recognize legal right to contraception
Ziegler said abortion opponents could even use existing abortion bans to outlaw contraception. After Roe fell, three states – Georgia, Utah and Oklahoma – changed their legal definitions of “abortion” to remove language that protected contraception, according to a draft of a forthcoming paper by Greer Donley, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and law student Caroline Kelly.
“This is no longer a fringe, side issue for a lot of these groups,” Ziegler said of redefining abortion. “It’s a central plank of what they’re trying to do.”
Read more at The Guardian
Senate Republicans block bill to protect access to contraception
“We saw what the Supreme Court did on abortion, and now there’s a real risk they may do the same thing on contraception,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I’m really sick of this idea that the Republicans think they can say two things simultaneously — they can talk to their extremist group and say, ‘I’ll give you everything you want. We are going to ban abortion, IVF, contraception, everything you want,’ and then try to say to the rest of America, ‘Boy, we don’t want any part in that.’”
Read more at NBC News
‘Calling their bluff’: Contraception bill fails in Senate
Democrats and their progressive allies counter that the threat to birth control access is very real, at both the state and federal level. The text of the bill, for instance, cited a concurring opinion Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the 2022 Dobbs decision that the court “should reconsider” other longstanding precedents like Griswold v. Connecticut — the 1965 decision guaranteeing the right for married couples to use contraception.
Read more at Politico
Senate Republicans Annoyed By Their Own Inconsistency On Contraceptives
In a 51-39 vote, Senate Republicans blocked a motion to proceed to a floor vote on the Right to Contraception Act, which sought to federally protect access to birth control and other forms of contraception. It needed 60 votes to overcome the filibuster and proceed to a vote. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) were the only Republicans to vote with Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) switched his vote to a “no” at the last minute, a procedural maneuver so that Democrats can bring up the bill again in the future.
Read more at Talking Points Memo