Senate Democrats failed to advance a bill to codify Roe v. Wade and create a national right to abortion on Wednesday.
The procedural vote to invoke cloture and advance the Women’s Health Protection Act failed in a 49-to-51 vote. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer chose to hold the vote despite the near certainty that Democrats would fail to meet the 60-vote threshold needed to break a Republican filibuster and advance the measure.
The largely symbolic vote came after a leaked majority draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization revealed that the Supreme Court could be poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, returning the question of abortion to the states.
“A vote on this legislation is not an abstract exercise. This is as urgent and real as it gets. We’ll vote to protect a women’s right to choose,” Schumer said last week, according to The Hill.
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) similarly told NPR on Tuesday that it’s “really important to have this vote to show where everyone stands.”
Senator Joe Manchin (D., W. Va.) came out against the measure ahead of the vote on Tuesday, saying the Women’s Health Protection Act is “not Roe v. Wade codification, it’s an expansion” of abortion.
“I was hopeful that the Democratic Party, having control of the agenda would put a piece of legislation forward that would codify Roe v. Wade,” Manchin told reporters. “For me, that would be the reasonable, rational thing to do.”
The senator explained that while he is pro-life, he would have supported a bill solely to codify Roe given that it has been “precedent and law” for 50 years.
While Democrats failed to garner enough votes to advance the measure, they did pick up support from Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, who has long identified as a pro-life Democrat despite having a mixed voting record on the issue in recent years.
Casey is the son of the late Pennsylvania governor and pro-life Democrat Bob Casey Sr., who was a party in the 1992 Supreme Court case Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in which the Court reaffirmed Roe v. Wade.
“In light of the leaked Supreme Court decision draft overturning Roe v. Wade, and subsequent reports that Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate will introduce legislation to enact a nationwide six-week ban, the real question of the moment is: do you support a categorical ban on abortion?” Casey said in a statement. “During my time in public office, I have never voted for — nor do I support — such a ban.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said over the weekend that a national abortion ban is “possible” if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
However, McConnell also told USA Today that he would not abandon the filibuster for any reason, making it unlikely that such a measure would reach the 60-vote threshold needed to pass, even if Republicans regained control of the Senate.
“No carve out of the filibuster – period,” the Republican leader said. “For any subject.”
McConnell’s comments came during an interview with USA Today, in which the outlet asked if a national abortion ban is “worthy of debate.”
“If the leaked opinion became the final opinion, legislative bodies — not only at the state level but at the federal level — certainly could legislate in that area,” he said.
He added: “And if this were the final decision, that was the point that it should be resolved one way or another in the legislative process. So yeah, it’s possible.”
However, McConnell suggested it is premature to discuss a nationwide abortion ban right now, saying it “puts the cart before the horse.”