Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced the #Senate will vote on a bill to protect a person's ability to access #contraceptives this Wednesday.
Why it matters:
The vote on the
⭐️Right to Contraception Act ⭐️
comes just ahead of the second anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court striking down federal abortion rights protections and as Democrats highlight the matter as a key 2024 election issue.
Schumer wrote in a "Dear Colleague" letter released Sunday: "Democrats will be putting reproductive freedoms front and center."
in his concurring opinion overturning Roe v. Wade
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote
that the bench should reconsider
"all of this Court's substantive due process precedents,"
including those guaranteeing birth control access and marriage equality.
Schumer promised in the letter that there would be "more action" after next week's vote on the "Right to Contraception Act"
which is led by by Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii).
State of play:
Schumer noted since the Supreme Court's June 24, 2022 decision in the Dobbs case, that 🔥at least 20 states have imposed near-total bans or severe restrictions on abortion.🔥
"There's no question in the American people's minds that Republicans have brought our country to this point," Schumer wrote.
"And as Donald Trump reminded us recently, he is 'proudly the person responsible' for the annihilation of Roe v. Wade and the grotesque reversal of women's personal freedoms," he added.
"Democrats have been clear we will not stand for these attacks and we will fight to preserve reproductive freedoms.
That is why as we return from the Memorial Day state work period, Senate Democrats will be putting reproductive freedoms front and center."
🔸The bill would guarantee the legal right for individuals to get and use contraception and for health care providers to provide contraception, information, referrals and services related to contraception.
🔸It would also prohibit the federal government and any state from administering or enforcing any law, rule or regulation to prohibit or restrict the sale or use of contraception.
8 #Republican senators announced Fri they would boycott #Democratic#legislative priorities & nominations as payback for #Trump’s #guilty#verdict.
In a joint statement, the senators said they would not “allow any increase to non-security related funding for this administration, or any appropriations bill which funds partisan lawfare.”
They also said they would refuse to vote to confirm President #Biden’s political & #judicial appointees & vowed to block “expedited consideration & passage of #Democrat#legislation or #authorities that are not directly relevant to the safety of the American people.”
In a letter to #Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-IL, & Sen Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, Roberts said he "must respectfully decline your request for a meeting," citing concerns about maintaining judicial independence.
Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. announced Wed that he will not recuse himself from Jan. 6-related cases at #SCOTUS after Democratic lawmakers questioned whether he could be impartial following reports that an upside-down #flag flew at his home in the weeks after the… [#insurrection].
In a letter to #Democrat ldrs in the #House & #Senate, #Alito said that flag & a 2nd, #religious-themed flag were raised by his wife, w/o his knowledge, & the incidents do not meet the conditions for #recusal outlined in #SCOTUS’s code of conduct.
Alito disclosed for the 1st time that he was not aware of the #UpsideDownFlag until it was called to his attention & that his wife resisted taking it down.