CV NEWS FEED // On Wednesday, four pro-abortion Democratic senators forced Republicans to block four radical abortion bills in a political stunt leveraging the anniversary of the fall of Roe v. Wade.
The bills, which Democrats describe as “common sense,” were proposed under “unanimous consent,” a procedure intended to force Republicans to either reject them or allow them to pass for an immediate vote without a floor debate.
“As we fight to get the votes we need to restore Roe, it’s imperative that we make plain to the country just how extreme and dangerous Republicans’ anti-abortion agenda is,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-WA, in a statement.
Joining her in the effort were Sens. Ed Markey, D-MA, Catherine Cortez Masto, D-NV, and Amy Klobuchar, D-MN.
“As a whole, this is political theater designed to give a platform to the most extreme pro-abortion policies to date,” said CatholicVote Director of Government Affairs Tom McClusky. “While we do not expect any of the bills to pass, these efforts must be shut down.”
Three of the acts have been proposed before, but Klobuchar’s “UPHOLD” Privacy Act is new to the 118th Congress.
‘Right to Contraception Act’
Markey’s Right to Contraception Act, S. 1999, seeks to overturn both state and federal laws regulating chemical abortions by widening the legal definition of “contraceptive” to include drugs such as mifepristone and misoprostol. The bill also directs taxpayer dollars to fund “facilities in which contraceptives” are provided, including abortion centers providing chemical abortion drugs.
Markey included a note that “Providers’ refusals to offer contraceptives and information related to contraception based on their own personal beliefs impede patients from obtaining their preferred method of contraception.” In response, his bill overrides all state and federal conscience laws, specifically the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.
‘Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act’
Cortez Masto reintroduced S. 4504, the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act, which purports to guarantee mothers the right to travel out of pro-life states to abort their babies in states without legal protections for the unborn. The bill also shields abortionists who prescribe chemical abortion drugs via telehealth calls from prosecution under laws forbidding the practice.
McClusky pointed out that the bill’s language also “provides special protections for traffickers and abusers who use abortion to cover up their abuse of minors and trafficking victims.”
‘Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act’
S.1297, originally proposed by Murray in August 2022, provides national legal immunities for abortionists “and those who assist such providers.” Under this law, individual providers in pro-life states could perform abortions on out-of-state residents in direct violation of state law.
The bill’s name is deceptive, McClusky notes, since it protects from legal action not only “doctors” but also “unlicensed abortionists or abortionists who have lost their license due to past gross misconduct or illegal activity.”
Murray’s proposed legislation instructs abortion workers to ignore state restrictions and itself also ignores the Hyde amendment by appropriating $40 million for abortionists’ anticipated legal fees when they break state law.
‘UPHOLD Privacy Act’
New to this session, Klobuchar’s S. 631 prohibits prosecutors from obtaining abortion-related “healthcare” data as part of investigations into illegal abortions. The bill, combined with the proposed amendments to HIPPAA, would make it nearly impossible to enforce any restrictions on abortion throughout the nation.
“This interferes with the ability of states to enforce their laws regulating and prohibiting abortion,” McClusky noted. “It also prevents states from protecting children and vulnerable persons from abuse.”
