Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) dealt a huge blow to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) today by vowing to vote against the Democrats on abortion rights.
Manchin told reporters he will vote against the Democrats’ bill to codify federal abortion rights as the Supreme Court prepares to overturn Roe v. Wade in June.
The West Virginia senator said that he does indeed support a federal right to abortion but said the Democratic bill, the Women’s Health Protection Act, goes too far.
“We’re going to be voting on a piece of legislation which I would not vote for today,” Manchin told reporters of the Democrats’ overreach.
“But I would vote for Roe v. Wade codification if it was today.
“I was hopeful for that.”
Manchin tells reporters he will vote against the Women’s Health Protection Act this afternoon pic.twitter.com/sOvTIjxDwl
— Alan He (@alanhe) May 11, 2022
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has said he will still push ahead with this vote even though he knows it is doomed.
“For the first time in 50 years a conservative majority — an extreme conservative majority — on the Supreme Court is on the brink of declaring that women do not have the right to an abortion, that they do not have the right to control their own bodies,” Schumer said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said:
“Today’s Democratic Party is profoundly out of step with the American people on this issue.
“Leader Schumer wants the Senate to vote again on a Democrat bill that would effectively legalize abortion on demand through all nine months.”
From NBC:
All 50 Republicans oppose the legislation. Two of them — Sen. Susan Collins, of Maine, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska — say they support abortion rights and have proposed a narrower bill that includes carve-outs for religious or moral objections.
Ahead of the vote, Senate Democratic leaders circulated a letter from progressive and reproductive rights groups — including the Center for American Progress, NARAL and Planned Parenthood — arguing that the Collins-Murkowski bill is too narrow and “would not protect the right to abortion.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called it “one of the most important votes we take in this chamber in decades.”
