Senate Democrats Fail to Codify Roe v. Wade

By | March 3, 2022

WASHINGTON DC, March 4 (C-Fam) Democrat efforts to enshrine abortion-on-demand into U.S. law failed on Monday. Republican Senators accused Democrats of grandstanding for their base while a humanitarian crisis unfolds in Ukraine.

The effort comes in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade that gave the United States abortion-on-demand through all nine months of pregnancy. The Democrat hope is that if Roe falls, abortion is still the law of the land.

“With a cascade of major crises testing our country, Senate Democrats are prioritizing a show vote on mandating nine months of abortion-on-demand across America,” said Senate Ranking Member Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) scheduled the procedural vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act on Monday evening knowing he was well short of the votes needed for the bill to pass.

“The whole world is talking about Ukraine and the repression they are experiencing, and the U.S. Senate is talking about how we get more abortions in America,” exclaimed Senator James Lankford (R-OK) during the floor debate.

“The bill that is being brought to the floor in just minutes from now—in the middle of a war in Ukraine—is not about protecting Ukrainians. It is not even about protecting children in our country. It is about destroying children in our country,” said Lankford.

Lankford questioned what the U.S. Senate has become with such an “obsession with abortion” and how there is no longer a place for pro-life Democrats within it.

“I remember a time when my Democrats used to talk about safe, legal, and rare. Now, they just want it safe, legal, and common. What have we become?”

Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) who heads the Senate pro-life caucus, said the bill would make the U.S. “one of the most dangerous places in the world to be an unborn child.”

Daines described radical provisions in the bill that go well beyond codifying Roe v. Wade including the dismemberment of babies, sex-selection abortion, minors receiving abortions without parental notification and mandating healthcare workers perform abortion. Daines cited a recent Marist poll that found 71% of Americans want abortion limited to the first 3 months of pregnancy.

Prior to the vote Schumer justified his actions saying that “abortion has never been more at risk” and that every American deserves to know where his or her Senator stands on the issue. Schumer’s statement confirmed suspicions that the vote was called with the November mid-term elections looming and the abortion lobby demanding to know where Senators stand before they direct election funding.

The bill needed 60 votes to advance for further Senate consideration. It failed with only 46 votes in favor.  Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) was the sole Democrat opposing the motion.

Republican abortion supporters Susan Collins (R-NH) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) voted in opposition to the bill opting rather to introduce a milder version of an abortion-on-demand bill that codifies Roe and Casey. The law would prevent States from restricting abortion prior to fetal viability.

The White House issued a statement expressing disappointment that “Senate Republicans blocked passage.” Once again, the statement refrains from using the word “abortion” which has drawn the ire of abortion groups.

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