NEW: Senate Republicans Vote Against Birth Control, Exposing the Extent of MAGA’s Anti-Contraception Extremism
June 6, 2024
In response to Senate Republicans blocking the Right to Contraception Act, DNC National Press Secretary Emilia Rowland released the following statement:
“Yesterday, Senate Republicans showed the American people their real position on birth control by voting against protecting access to crucial contraceptive care. The overwhelming, bipartisan majority of Americans agree with Senate Democrats who fought to bring the Right to Contraception Act to the floor and voted unanimously to protect our rights against MAGA Republicans continuing down the warpath to a complete ban on reproductive freedom made possible by Donald Trump. We’ll spend between now and November making sure that voters remember Democrats are on their side, while extreme Republicans attempt to gaslight voters about their extremism as they back Trump’s plans to strip away our basic rights, threaten our health care, and subject women to a reality where we have less reproductive freedom than our mothers and grandmothers had decades ago.”
NEW: Senate Republicans BLOCKED the Right to Contraception Act, legislation introduced by Democrats to protect access to contraception against MAGA extremists hellbent on tearing it away.
NBC News: “Senate Republicans blocked legislation Wednesday that would enshrine a federal right to access contraception, sinking the Democratic-led measure.
“The vote on the Right To Contraception Act was 51-39, falling short of the 60 votes needed to defeat a filibuster and move the bill forward. Republicans said it was unnecessary because the use of birth control is already protected under Supreme Court precedent.”
Again and again, Senate Republicans have refused to support legislation that protects access to contraception, while they peddle misinformation and gaslight voters claiming there’s no threat to contraceptive access:
TIME: “Several Republicans seem to agree that Griswold should be reevaluated. Republican Senator Mike Braun of Indiana said that the states, not the courts, should decide the legality of a host of issues, including contraception.”
CBS News: “The Senate on Thursday struck down a controversial amendment that would allow any U.S. employer, not just those affiliated with a religious institution, to deny contraceptive health coverage to its employees based on religious or moral objections. The so-called ‘Blunt amendment,’ sponsored by Republican Senator Roy Blunt, failed in a 51-48 vote. Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio co-sponsored the measure.”
The Guardian: “Separately, Hawley served as a member of the legal team that argued the Hobby Lobby case before the US supreme court from 2011 to 2015. In that case, Hawley and others on the team argued that private companies should not be required to cover birth control methods that were ‘more like abortifacients’ because, they alleged, the contraception prevented an embryo from implanting in the uterus wall.”
Iowa Capital Dispatch: “U.S. Senate Democrats tried to pass legislation Wednesday that would guarantee women can continue using contraception if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the long-standing precedent, the way it did with
abortion. But Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst blocked their efforts by objecting to Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey’s request for unanimous consent to pass the bill, saying the measure went too far. Under Senate procedures, no roll call vote was taken.”
Triad City Beat: “On July 21, he [Senator Ted Budd] voted against Rep. Kathy Manning’s Right to Contraception Act, which ensures Americans’ right to birth control.”
Texas Tribune: “The U.S. House passed a bill Thursday that would prevent states from banning birth control, though nearly the entire Republican delegation from Texas voted against it. … Senate Democrats introduced companion legislation earlier this week, which U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, dismissed as ‘pure hysteria,’ doubting the Supreme Court would actually repeal legal protections for contraceptives. ‘It’s not in jeopardy,’ Cornyn told The Associated Press.”
Should Trump win this upcoming election, MAGA Republicans are gearing up to further their attacks on reproductive freedom, including access to contraception.
Rolling Stone: “Inside the MAGA Plan to Attack Birth Control, Surveil Women and Ban the Abortion Pill”
“The attacks on mifepristone and resurrection of Comstock stand out as particularly harmful proposals, but they are only two of the dozens of ways the Republicans behind Project 2025 envision restricting access to abortion and contraception if they win the White House next year. Elsewhere in the document, there are proposals to eliminate the morning-after pill from the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate under the rationale that it is a ‘potential abortifacient.’”
Axios: “This is undeniably a Trump-driven operation. The biggest tell: Johnny McEntee — one of Trump’s closest White House aides, and his most fervent internal loyalty enforcer — is a senior adviser to Project 2025. One of the most powerful architects is Stephen Miller, a top West Wing adviser for the Trump administration.”
Heritage Foundation:“Conservatives have to lead the way in … ending … senseless use of birth control pills.”
The Hill: “Trump: It’s up to states to monitor pregnancies, prosecute abortions”