Comment A bipartisan group of senators unveiled compromise legislation to guarantee federal access to abortion, an effort to codify abortion after a Supreme Court reversal Roe v. Wade. He faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where he is unlikely to win enough support from Republicans. The legislation, co-sponsored by Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine (Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) and Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), is an attempt to create a middle ground on an issue that largely pits anti-abortion Republicans against pro-abortion Democrats. From the decision of the Supreme Court on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization as of June, 17 states have either outlawed or mostly banned abortion. A handful of other states are in the process of banning abortion, and on Tuesday, Kansas will be the first state where voters are set to go to the polls to determine whether the state will revoke the constitutional right to abortion. Compromise legislation introduced Monday guarantees federal abortion rights until viability and allows abortion after viability when the mother’s health is at risk. The statute does not specify what week is viability or what constitutes when the mother’s health is at risk. Both issues should be determined by the pregnant woman’s doctor. “It clearly uses sustainability as a key differentiator,” Kaine said. “Pro-sustainability women should have considerable freedom — a state can regulate but cannot unduly burden. After viability, the state can regulate much more, but it can never prevent a woman from accessing an abortion for her life and health.” The measure comes after Senate Democrats tried to pass bipartisan legislation that would codify Roe. The vote in May, after a draft of the Supreme Court decision was leaked, failed, winning the support of 49 Democrats. One Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin III (DW.Va.), and all Republicans, including Collins and Murkowksi, voted against it because, they said, it went far beyond the codification of Roe. Kaine admits, however, that the proposal unveiled Monday lacks the support of 10 Republicans needed to pass the Senate. However, he said it is an important marker in the debate. The bipartisan bill, called the Reproductive Freedom for All Act, also ensures access to contraception, which abortion advocates fear will be outlawed in some conservative states or Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court case that granted a personal right to contraception, will be overturned. The bill also includes a conscience clause, which allows a provider to opt out of abortion services if it violates a religious belief, an issue that was important to Collins. “There is a majority of the US Senate that wants to codify Roe v. Wadeand leave the impression that there is only a minority who want to code Roe v. WadeI think, it’s a weak position to be in,” Kaine said in an interview Monday. “For five decades, reproductive health care decisions have been centered on the individual — we cannot turn back the clock to curtail personal freedoms for women,” Murkowski said in a statement. It is not clear that Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (DN.Y.) would bring the bill up for a vote ahead of November’s midterm elections. There has been disagreement in the Democratic caucus over whether a bipartisan bill that has no chance of passing should be advanced, making it harder for Democratic candidates to challenge Republicans. And many Democrats, Kaine said, would prefer the Democratic version of the bill, the Women’s Health Protection Act, which includes fewer restrictions on abortion. Kaine calls the bill the bare minimum. “What the four of us were trying to do was put a legal minimum that replicated what the law was the day before Dobbs,” he said. A recent poll by The Washington Post-Schar School found that a majority of respondents — 58 percent — supported abortion access until viability, including 77 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of independents. Just 34 percent of Republicans, however, supported it. Abortion rights groups are criticizing the proposal, in part because it won’t pass the Senate because of the 60-vote limit in that chamber. “This bill is just another political stunt that will not actually address the abortion rights and access crisis that has pushed care out of reach for millions of people already,” said NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju. “Unless these senators are willing to end the process of passing this measure, there is no reason to take it seriously.”
