Senate Democrats confront GOP with contraception vote before elections

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Wednesday teed up legislation for June that would codify federal protections for contraception.

The move comes after presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump teased he could back contraception restrictions and as Democrats campaign on women’s reproductive health as the party’s primary policy issue ahead of the November elections.

The legislation is unlikely to garner the support of at least nine Republicans needed to clear the chamber’s 60-vote threshold.

“Now more than ever, contraception is a critical piece of protecting women’s reproductive freedoms, standing as nothing short of a vital lifeline for millions of American women across the country,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.

Trump told a Pittsburgh TV station in an interview that aired earlier this week he was “looking at” new contraception restrictions but quickly backpedaled on social media, saying he’d “never, and will never advocate imposing restrictions on birth control or other contraceptives.”

The bill, led by Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI), would render contraception a “fundamental right” at the national level. Access to birth control has been in the spotlight after Roe v. Wade was overturned and as Republican-controlled states limit abortion access.

Senate Republicans earlier this year blocked the unanimous passage of a bill to protect access to in vitro fertilization, following a controversial Alabama Supreme Court ruling that embryos were children.

The Senate GOP, led by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Katie Britt (R-AL), has since sought to blunt Democratic criticism by introducing its own version that would ban states from receiving Medicaid funding if they banned IVF. Their proposal would not force medical facilities to perform the service.

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The move could foreshadow the response from GOP senators if Democrats’ contraception bill fails next month.

“Senate Democrats are committed to restoring women’s freedoms and will fight to protect access to contraception and other reproductive freedoms that are essential safeguards for millions of women to control their own lives, their futures, and their bodies,” Schumer said.