Read More News Releases – Freedom From Religion Foundation – Freedom From Religion Foundation The Freedom From Religion Foundation condemns U.S. senators today who failed to support the Women’s Health Protection Act. The lesson is, FFRF emphasizes, that it’s time to get rid of the filibuster.
The Women’s Health Protection Act not only would codify the provisions of Roe v. Wade, should the Supreme Court overturn the 1973 law legalizing abortion nationwide (as expected) but also would override many state laws that put unnecessary barriers in the way of abortion patients. The Democrats did not have enough support from Republicans to reach the 60-vote threshold required by the filibuster.
While the vote today was expected to fail on party lines, it was an important symbolic step to put senators on the record, following last week’s leak of a draft opinion by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito overturning Roe v. Wade. The House has passed the act, but it has languished in the Senate.
As if killing the Women’s Health Protection Act is not bad enough, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has indicated his interest in passing a federal ban on abortion once the high court overturns Roe. Such a ban would overturn pro-choice protections being adopted so far by about a quarter of the states. Such provisions include codifying abortion rights, passing “safe habor” laws to welcome citizens seeking abortions from anti-abortion states, as well as laws to ensure access to medication abortion.
“The extremist, anti-abortion, male-dominated Christian nationalists in Congress, the Supreme Court and a majority of state legislatures are relentless in seeking their dystopian objective of denying reproductive liberty and bodily autonomy to half its citizens,” warns FFRF Co-President Anne Laurie Gaylor. “Secular voices must counter this theocratic crusade.”
The Senate vote makes clear that until the filibuster is eliminated, reproductive and other rights are in peril.