The Senate will vote this week on a bill aimed at protecting access to contraceptives, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a letter to colleagues on Sunday, another effort by Democrats to put “reproductive freedoms front and center” ahead of the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade — and November’s election.

What You Need To Know

  • The Senate will vote this week on a bill aimed at protecting access to contraceptives, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a letter to colleagues on Sunday

  • The vote is the latest effort by Democrats to put “reproductive freedoms front and center” ahead of the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade — and November’s election

  • In a concurring opinion in Dobbs, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas — part of the majority that overturned Roe — wrote that the high court should “reconsider” several key decisions, including Griswold v. Connecticut, which ruled that Connecticut’s ban on contraceptives violated the right to privacy and protected their use without government interference

  • It's unclear if the vote will have enough Republican support to pass, but it will give Democrats the opportunity to put their Republican colleagues on the record on reproductive rights, a key issue heading into November's election that the party is hoping can translate into success at the voting booth

Calling the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the ruling that overturned Roe in June 2022, “one of the worst Supreme Court decisions of modern times,” Schumer condemned attacks nationwide on abortion rights in the wake of the ruling and pledged that his Democratic conference “will never relent until we reverse the immense damage MAGA Republicans and the Supreme Court have inflicted.”

One such effort, Schumer said, is that the Senate will vote this week on the Right to Contraception Act, a bill sponsored by Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey and Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono.

The measure aims to protect access to birth control by barring the federal government or states from restricting access to contraception and guaranteeing that “the right to contraception is a fundamental right, central to a person’s privacy, health, wellbeing, dignity, liberty, equality, and ability to participate in the social and economic life of the Nation.”

In a concurring opinion in Dobbs, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas — part of the majority that overturned Roe — wrote that the high court should “reconsider” several key decisions, including Griswold v. Connecticut, which ruled that Connecticut’s ban on contraceptives violated the right to privacy and protected their use without government interference.

The bill has dozens of Democratic cosponsors in the Senate, but it’s unclear if it can pick up any Republican support.

But the vote will allow Democrats the opportunity to put their Republican colleagues on the record on reproductive rights, a key issue heading into November's election that the party is hoping can translate into success at the voting booth. 

"There's no question in the American people's minds that Republicans have brought our country to this point," Schumer wrote in his letter. "And as Donald Trump reminded us recently, he is 'proudly the person responsible' for the annihilation of Roe v. Wade and the grotesque reversal of women's personal freedoms. Democrats have been clear we will not stand for these attacks and we will fight to preserve reproductive freedoms."

Former President Trump, the Republican Party's presumptive nominee in November's election, said last month that he was “looking at” restrictions to birth control, before his campaign sought to walk his comments back.

President Joe Biden's reelection campaign, meanwhile, has launched an advertising blitz aimed at keeping the issue of abortion front and center heading into the election. A focus on abortion rights was credited with giving Democrats a stronger-than-expected showing in the 2022 midterm elections and state referendums on abortion have been successful every time they've been on the ballot, including in deep red states like Ohio and Kansas. Democrats and abortion rights advocates are hopeful that a focus on the issue will help them to flip the House, defend a tough Senate map and impact a close presidential election, particularly with abortion on the ballot in several states.

Schumer vowed that "there will be more action to come after" Wednesday's vote.