WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives on Thursday passed legislation to codify access to contraception nationwide, overcoming nearly unanimous Republican opposition to protect a right seen as newly threatened after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
The measure is almost certain to fail in the evenly divided Senate, where most Republicans are also likely to oppose it. The vote was the latest move by Democrats in an election year to draw a sharp line with Republicans on a social issue that has broad support.
The measure passed 228 to 195, with eight Republicans joining Democrats in support. It would protect the right to purchase and use contraception without government restrictions. The legislation drew only slightly more Republican support than two bills the House passed last week that aimed to provide access to abortion in the post-Roe era; nearly all Republicans were united in opposition.
It was a far different result from just days earlier, when Democrats forced a vote on legislation to enact federal protections for same-sex marriage rights and drew the support of 47 Republicans — far more than expected.
The flurry of legislative action is a direct response by the Democratic-led Congress to the Supreme Court’s ruling last month in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, which overturned nearly 50 years of abortion rights. The ruling raised concerns that other long-standing rights could be at risk at the hands of the conservative court.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas specifically said that other precedents, including those protecting same-sex marriage and the right to contraception, “must be reconsidered.”
The constitutional right to contraception has been protected for more than five decades since the Supreme Court’s 1965 decision in Griswold v. Connecticut.
Democrats on Thursday sought to paint Republicans as a party of extremists bent on rolling back entrenched rights and out of step with the views of most voters.
“An extreme Republican Party, an extreme Supreme Court, they want to take away your freedom and your control over your own life,” said Angie Craig, Democrat of Minnesota. “We’re in an absurd time.”
She said before the vote that “I’m frankly appalled that we even have to vote on this bloody bill. This is not an extremist question. This is an extremist Republican Party”
Republicans, in turn, argued that Democrats were intent on finding new ways to increase access to abortion. Rep. Kathy McMorris Rogers, R-Washington, said she supports access to contraception but strongly opposes the bill, which she described as a “Trojan horse for more abortions.”
Ms. McMorris Rogers said part of her concern was that the bill would send more taxpayer money to Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion services in addition to contraception.
“Instead of working with us, Democrats are once again spreading fear and misinformation to score political points,” she said.
Democrats saw the vote as a way to show voters that they are doing everything they can to protect rights that are widely popular in the United States — and that Republicans are standing in the way. It came after progressives slammed Democrats after Roe fell for not doing more to protect abortion rights and for being slow to respond when the Supreme Court overruled them in a widely expected ruling.
Although the marriage equality bill garnered much more support among Republicans than expected, less than a quarter of GOP representatives supported it. Still, the margin was enough to propel the measure from a messaging bill destined to die in the Senate to a legislative instrument with a chance — albeit slim — of passage.
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said he was surprised by the level of Republican support for the bill. He added that he would work to introduce it to the floor and gather support from 10 Senate Republicans to ensure it could pass a filibuster.
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