Anti-abortion advocates celebrate June 24, 2022, outside the Supreme Court in Washington following the court's decision to end constitutional protections for abortion.
Anti-abortion advocates celebrate June 24, 2022, outside the Supreme Court in Washington following the court's decision to end constitutional protections for abortion.
WASHINGTON — Democrats believe they are clearly on offense this week ahead of Saturday’s anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.
“Last November, in every single place abortion rights were on the ballot, abortion rights won. Americans do not want politicians making health care decisions for them, and they want their fundamental rights and freedoms to be protected, not taken away,” Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the president pro tempore, said at a Wednesday morning news conference flanked by Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and Democratic women senators.
Inside the Capitol, Senate Democrats made unanimous consent requests to get GOP senators to object to a number of pieces of targeted abortion rights-related legislation in response to the 5-4 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. That includes a bill spearheaded by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., that would ensure women have the ability to travel across state lines for abortion services.
“One year after Roe vs. Wade was overturned, we need this bill more than ever. Our legislation reaffirms that women have a fundamental right to interstate travel and makes crystal clear that states cannot prosecute women or anyone who helps them for going to another state to get the critical reproductive care that they need,” Cortez Masto said on the Senate floor.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, objected to Cortez Masto’s request, saying there are no current laws restricting such travel for adults.
“We’re dealing with a phantom problem, phantom law, that does not exist,” Lee said. “There’s not a single state law out there that restricts an adult’s right to travel out of state for an abortion or otherwise.”
Lee said this was different from laws restricting the ability of minors to travel out of state to obtain abortion care without parental consent.
Rep. Suzan DelBene, who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, pointed to a number of races in which abortion access may have particular significance, including several in New York as well as the Wisconsin congressional districts currently held by Republican Reps. Bryan Steil and Derrick Van Orden, based on the results of an April state Supreme Court election that saw the majority on the court flip to the Democratic side.
“The Republicans started off saying things about this was only going to be a … states rights issue,” DelBene told reporters. “Well, clearly that’s not true — they are pursuing a nationwide abortion ban.”
The Democratic National Committee announced Wednesday that it would be running digital ads and posting billboards in key battleground markets ahead of the anniversary on Saturday. DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said the party would “continue to make sure that the American people understand what is at stake in this election, and how extreme Republicans are, so we’re going to do that in whatever medium … is necessary.”
Some Republicans, meanwhile, were praising the Dobbs decision and pressing to go further. That includes presidential hopefuls such as former Vice President Mike Pence.
“A lot of people are saying this was returned only to the states, but look, no. The Dobbs decision returned the power to the states and to the American people,” Pence said Tuesday on Fox News Channel, highlighting his support for a proposal from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to prohibit abortions nationally in most cases after 15 weeks.
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