The U.S. Senate on Wednesday failed to advance legislation aimed at protecting access to contraceptives, with only two Republicans crossing party lines to join every Senate Democrat to support it.
The bill, known as the Right to Contraception Act, is intended to enshrine contraception access two days before the anniversary of Griswold v. Connecticut — the 1965 Supreme Court decision that protected the right to contraception without government restriction. The vote was aimed in part at putting Republicans in a tough position on a key reproductive rights issue ahead of November's election.
The final vote was 51-39; Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer switched his vote from a “yes” to a “no” as a procedural move so the bill could be brought up again at a later time. The measure needed 60 votes to advance.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski were the only present Republicans who supported the bill.
"If it’s a messaging bill, my message is I support contraception," Murkowski told reporters on Wednesday ahead of the vote. "If we’re going to play messaging, that’s my message.”
In a statement, President Joe Biden denounced Senate Republicans' opposition to the bill as "unacceptable," calling the vote part of their "extreme agenda... to undermine access to reproductive health care." He urged Congress to try again.
"Republican elected officials’ extreme agenda — which is at odds with the majority of Americans—continues to undermine access to reproductive health care, from abortion to contraception to in vitro fertilization. Dangerous abortion bans are forcing health care providers to close, disrupting access to critical health care services," the president said. "Republican officials continue to try to restrict access to birth control and to defund federal programs that help women access contraception."
"Vice President Harris and I believe that women in every state must have the freedom to make deeply personal health care decisions, including the right to decide if and when to start or grow their family," Biden continued. "My Administration alongside Democrats in Congress will continue to fight to protect access to reproductive health care and keep taking action to strengthen access to affordable, high-quality contraception. And we will continue to urge Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law and safeguard the right to contraception once and for all."
Senate Democrats and Biden’s reelection campaign earlier Wednesday stressed the urgency of passing the bill, which was initially put forward two years ago after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
In a concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the case that overturned Roe v. Wade, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas 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.
In a news conference before the vote, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., the lead sponsor of the Senate bill, noted that when Trump was asked last month if he supports restrictions on contraception, the former president answered, “We’re looking at that.” His campaign later said Trump misspoke and was talking about abortion drugs.
“Trump said he would have to look at it. Democrats and the vast majority of Americans don't have to look at it. It's settled,” Markey said, citing poll numbers showing that both Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly support birth control.
Schumer, D-N.Y., said access to contraception is “under threat.”
“Make no mistake: Americans’ uncertainty about using birth control is one of the many, many shameful consequences of overturning Roe v. Wade,” Schumer said.
“After years and years of being told that Roe would be protected, is this a gamble any one of us should be willing to take?” he added.
Added Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii: “It's hard not to observe that the Republicans have an obsession – an obsession – with power and control over women.”
But Republicans called the bill overreach and accused Democrats of fear mongering.
"There’s no intention that I hear from any Republicans that want to limit access to family planning," said Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran.
Democrats in the House on Tuesday took a procedural step to try and force a vote on a similar bill in the GOP-controlled chamber.
Schumer vowed earlier this week that his conference will put “reproductive freedoms front and center” ahead of the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade — and November’s election.
"There's no question in the American people's minds that Republicans have brought our country to this point," Schumer said earlier this week. "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."
President Biden's reelection campaign said that it will spend the next three weeks leading up to the first presidential debate later this month contrasting his stance on reproductive rights with that of former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee who appointed three conservative justices who helped to overturn Roe v. Wade two years ago
“It’s not hyperbole to say that this election is going to be the most consequential of our lifetimes,” Biden-Harris campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a briefing earlier Wednesday. “The future of our democracy and our rights and freedoms are all on the line, and that includes the future of our reproductive freedoms.”
Chavez Rodriguez said the campaign would spend the next three weeks leading up to the first presidential debate highlighting the candidates’ differences. She said the Biden-Harris 2024 campaign intends to hold Trump accountable for his reproductive rights record in battleground states this week with events in Atlanta; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Madison, Wisconsin; Reno, Nevada; and Tucson, Arizona.
“We know that Donald Trump came within one vote of terminating the Affordable Care Act, which protected contraception access,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said during the campaign press call Wednesday. “He said time and time again he still wants to eliminate it. We know Donald Trump’s history of attacking Planned Parenthood. We know that he has said that he is looking at policies restricting access to birth control.”
Cooper added that when Trump attacks reproductive freedom, Republican leaders at every level “follow like lemmings, regardless of how outrageous or oppressive it is.”
“We’re at a defining moment in this country for personal freedom,” Cooper said. “Donald Trump and Republican leaders claim it’s about safety, but it’s really about them trying to control women. Personal freedom is on the ballot this November. Reproductive freedom is on the ballot this November. Contraception is on the ballot this November.”
Biden's reelection campaign 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.
Spectrum News' Joseph Konig contributed to this report.