House Passes Pair of Abortion Rights Bills

[Webster]

(The Guardian) Abortion rights bill passes the House
The US House of Representatives has approved a law which would preserve access to abortion nationwide at the federal level – but the bill is still expected to fail in the Senate.

HR 8296, the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2022, passed the House by 219 yes votes to 210 no votes. Two members did not vote.

The law would preserve access to abortion, after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v Wade. The bill is expected to fail in the Senate, however. In May a vote in the Senate failed, with Joe Manchin, the Democrat who has repeatedly blocked his own party’s legislative efforts, joining Republicans to vote the bill down by 51 votes to 49.

The House will now consider another abortion rights bill, HR8297 – the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022. That bill would protect individual’s right to travel for abortion access.

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Second bill preserving abortion rights passes House
A second bill protecting the right to abortion has passed the US House.

HR 8297, the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022, passed by 223 votes to 205 no votes. Three Republicans did not vote.

The bill would prohibit restrictions on out-of-state travel for the purpose of obtaining an abortion service.

Like HR 8296, the bill is likely to fail in the Senate, where there is not enough support for either bill to survive the 60-vote filibuster threshold. There are 50 Republicans in the Senate.

 

[Nebulous]

So much abortion talk these days.

 

[Webster]

So much abortion talk these days.

Its' kabuki theatre because everyone knows the Senate will circular-file both bills.

The only reason the House voted on them was to get Republicans on the record; for what its' worth, while I disagree with the Dobbs decision overturning Roe, the decision for now is done and the sooner we can move on to fighting for some balance on abortion at the state level, state-by-state, the better.