WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives on Friday passed two bills aimed at securing abortion access in the post-Roe era, as Democrats seek to draw clear lines with Republicans on the issue targeting the midterm elections.
One measure that passed largely along party lines, 222 to 205, would protect the right to travel across state lines for abortions, with three Republicans joining Democrats in supporting the measure.
A second measure, a version of which passed the House last year, would expressly give health care providers the right to provide abortion services and their patients the right to obtain them, invalidating various state restrictions put in place after the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade and ending the constitutional right to abortion. That second measure, the Women’s Health Protection Act, passed 219 to 210, also largely along party lines, with one Democrat, Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, voting with the Republicans.
Neither bill has the votes to pass the Senate. But Democrats cheered them when the bills passed, with both parties on record heading into the midterm elections on an issue that has only grown more politically divisive.
“Freedom, justice and freedom are under attack right now because of a radical, right-wing, illegitimate majority on the Supreme Court and their extreme co-conspirators in the House of Representatives,” Representative Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, said on the House floor. “We will always protect these freedoms.”
Representative Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., said the Supreme Court’s “devastating” decision to overturn Roe “has created a patchwork of states with different laws and restrictions causing public chaos and confusion.”
She added: “It’s the pursuit of women.”
Representative Diana Harshbarger, R-Tennessee, dismissed the legislation as “a fraudulent ploy to circumvent the power of states to set their own laws regarding abortion procedures.”
The action pushes the debate into the campaign, where both parties hope to motivate voters by framing the election around one of the country’s longest-standing cultural divides.
Polls show that support for abortion has grown as states have passed laws restricting abortion, and Democrats hope they can use that to motivate voters to elect officials who will enshrine abortion access in law.
“We need two more Democratic senators so we can eliminate the filibuster and make this law the law of the land,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday on the floor.
Read more about the end of Roe v. Wade
“We offer hope to the American people who value our freedoms and who overwhelmingly stand with us in our mission to protect them,” Ms. Pelosi added. “What do Republicans expect? Can’t travel to buy a book? Can’t you travel to see a concert or a play?’
Democrats are also responding to a flurry of pressure from progressives in their ranks who were outraged by the Supreme Court’s decision last month and their leaders’ slow response to an opinion that had been expected for weeks.
Republicans hope to win a long-term battle to change public perceptions of abortion. And they are trying to paint the Democratic measures as “radical” proposals that would allow late-term abortions on demand.
In fact, the Democratic law allows abortions after viability only in circumstances where a doctor determines that continuing the pregnancy would pose a risk to the patient’s life or health.
“Both sides are guilty of rejecting each other,” said Representative Cathy McMorris Rogers, R-Washington, dismissing the Women’s Health Protection Act as an “abortion on demand” bill.
“Science has evolved. I hope we learn from this and reject abortion; it is unthinkable,” she said.
While Democrats pushed for a vote that would force Republicans to show where they stand on abortion care and portray them as out of step with the majority of Americans, Republican lawmakers have embraced the debate, even proposing legislation that would federalize some of the strictest anti-abortion laws passed in states like Texas.
On Wednesday, the Republican House Select Committee, the largest caucus in Congress, approved the Heartbeat Protection Act, a bill that would ban abortions after a heartbeat is detected. This can happen as early as six weeks before many women even know they are pregnant. According to opponents, the measure would amount to a complete ban on abortion.
Republican-led state legislatures have also pushed through plans that would allow citizens to sue anyone who helped a resident of a state where abortion is banned seek an abortion in a state where it remains legal.
Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher, D-Texas, said her bill, barring states from enacting or enforcing laws restricting abortion travel, is consistent with the constitutional right to interstate travel.
But Republicans criticized the bill as “part of an extreme agenda” to allow abortion without restrictions.
“This would prevent health professionals from reporting cases of child abuse, sexual abuse and neglect, as these could be seen as delaying or preventing access to abortion,” Ms McMorris Rogers said.
The Senate, however, remains the main roadblock to any legislative effort to codify Roe v. Wade into law, or even the narrower measure to protect rights to travel to states where abortion is still legal.
All but two Senate Republicans oppose abortion rights, leaving little hope that any bill can move forward. With one Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, also opposed, there is no realistic way for the legislation to win the 60 votes needed to clear the Senate.
Senate Democrats tried and failed in May to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act. But Republicans and Mr. Manchin resisted, blocking debate and leaving the measure without even a simple majority.
On Thursday, Senate Republicans blocked Democrats from passing a Democratic bill to protect women’s right to travel across state lines to obtain abortion care.
“Does that child in the womb have the right to travel into their future?” said Sen. James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma. “Will they survive?” He added: “There’s also a child in this conversation.”
Still, many Democratic lawmakers focused their anger Friday on the Supreme Court rather than their fellow Republicans. Congresswoman Madeline Dean, D-Pennsylvania, said Republicans had “fixed” the Supreme Court “with a few justices sitting from an autocratic president.” She added: “They act like theocrats.”
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