After Supreme Court Leak, Lawmakers Will Vote to Enshrine Abortion Protections in Federal Law

Last night, the news outlet Politico published an authentic copy of a U.S. Supreme Court draft majority opinion overturning Roe v. Wade and returning lawmaking authority over abortion back to the states.

Though the draft is authentic, it is not final nor conclusive of how the court will eventually rule in the case.

You can read The Daily Citizen’s first story on the leaked opinion here.

Speaking from the floor of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday morning, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that given the court’s leaked opinion, Congress’ upper chamber will soon vote to codify Roe v. Wade into federal law.

“Now that the court is poised to strike down Roe, it is my intention for the Senate to hold a vote on legislation to codify the right to an abortion into law,” Majority Leader Schumer said.

“A vote on this legislation is not an abstract exercise. This is as urgent and as real as it gets … Every American is going to see on which side every senator stands.”

Last September, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021 (HR 3755) in a 218-211 vote.

The bill, called by pro-life supporters the “Abortion on Demand Until Birth Act,” would have guaranteed any woman in the United States the right to abort her preborn child at any stage of pregnancy for any reason.

Additionally, it would have overridden every legal protection that states have granted to preborn babies over the past five decades, including laws banning partial-birth abortion, statutes protecting babies who survive failed abortions, parental consent laws, bans on late-term abortions, ultrasound requirements and more.

Thankfully, the bill stalled in the U.S. Senate on February 28, 2022, after the chamber failed to invoke cloture (proceed to a final vote) on the legislation in a 46-48 vote.

Democrat Senator Joe Manchin joined with all voting Republican members to oppose the bill.

HR 3755 needed 60 votes in the U.S. Senate to proceed to a final vote and would then have required 51 votes to pass.

Most likely, it is this bill that the U.S. Senate will soon vote on again.

Additionally, some leftists have called for the U.S. Senate to invoke the so-called “nuclear option” to pass the bill, which would lower the 60-vote threshold needed for cloture to be invoked on legislation to just 50 votes. A 50-vote majority of senators would also be required to support such a move for the nuclear option to pass.

However, given the current 50-50 split between the two parties in the U.S. Senate, the idea is currently dead-on-arrival in that chamber, because Democrat Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema oppose such a move.

“The filibuster is the only protection we have in democracy,” Sen. Manchin said on Tuesday. “We’ve protected women’s rights with the filibuster.”

Sen. Sinema also defended the filibuster on Tuesday, saying, “Protections in the Senate safeguarding against the erosion of women’s access to health care have been used half-a-dozen times in the past ten years, and are more important now than ever.”

All told, the chances of the “Abortion on Demand Until Birth Act” becoming law is nearly zero.

Focus on the Family President Jim Daly penned a blog post regarding the high court’s leaked opinion.

He wrote in part:

“The Supreme Court’s Office of Public Information has confirmed the authenticity of the draft of the Dobbs’ opinion leaked to media – but stressed the highly-anticipated decision is still pending. I hope and pray the strong sentiments and solid legal reasoning expressed in the document will soon be final.

“Returning this issue to the states is an important first step in the effort to relegate the barbarism of abortion to the dust heap of history. Championing the dignity and respect of all life is not radical – it’s the mark and measure of a civilized culture … I am praying that a majority of the justices will, indeed, overturn Roe – and in doing so, help restore a state’s right to protect a pre-born child’s right to life.”

To read Focus President Jim Daly’s blog post in full, click here.