U.S. Senate Republicans voted against a federal law that would enshrine access to birth control. While the Right to Contraception Act failed to meet the 60 vote threshold to advance debate, Democrats were on the offensive after the bill died.
“Today Senate Republicans blocked the Right to Contraception Act and refused to defend access to birth control for Georgia women,” Senator Jon Ossoff said in a statement. “I will continue to fight back against any effort by extremists to ban birth control for Georgia women.”
The bill was largely a test vote to see if the Senate could put forth a bipartisan bill before the election. Democrats worry reproductive rights might hang in the balance in November. Moreover, if Donald Trump wins November’s presidential election, Republicans could forbid the sale of birth control.
Dr. Dara Kass, a Board Member of Americans for Contraception, released the following statement immediately following the vote:
“Today’s defeat of the Right to Contraception Act in the U.S. Senate due to Republicans’ near universal opposition mirrors the Republican opposition in state capitals to protecting the right to contraception. Once again, they demonstrated how out of touch their party is with the overwhelming majority of Americans that the right to choose if, when, and how to have children is a private matter and should be protected from political interference.
“Their actions reflect a broader coordinated assault on Americans’ reproductive freedoms, which includes the right to contraception. The American public is listening. First Abortion, then IVF, now contraception — the threats are real, and people know that.”