‘We will not negotiate a woman’s right to vote’: Pelosi stands firm in forcing second house vote on abortion law codification bill after Roe was ousted, despite senators calling for changes
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would not negotiate any tighter abortion rights legislation that might pass the Senate
- “We will not negotiate a woman’s right to vote,” she said
- On Friday, the House of Representatives will vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act for the second time after passing the measure in February
- The bill failed in the Senate in May, without a vote from Sen. Joe Manchin or Republican supporters Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins
speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed that she would not negotiate a narrower abortion rights bill that could potentially pass senateasked why she was pushing through a second vote on a bill that moderate Senate members were already calling too broad.
“We will not negotiate a woman’s right to vote. Senators Murkowski and Senator Collins may have their opinions, but it’s not about a woman having the right to decide. So we’re not negotiating that, no,” Pelosi said in her weekly briefing Thursday.
On Friday, the House of Representatives will vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act for the second time after passing the measure in February. The bill failed in the Senate in May.
The 2021 version of the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), spearheaded by California Democratic Rep. Judy Chu lost a procedural vote 51-49.
The bill would have needed 60 votes, 10 from Republicans, to pass but failed to secure even a simple majority due to Senator Joe Manchin, DW.Va , and Susan Collins, Maine.
“People don’t like it when we say vote, vote, in 100 days people are going to vote, we need to elect some more democratic senators so we can bypass the filibuster so we can pass legislation that’s really about the law Choosing to impact a woman is not a half thing,” Pelosi said.
“We will not negotiate a woman’s right to vote. Senators Murkowski and Senator Collins may have their opinions, but it’s not about a woman having the right to decide. So we’re not negotiating that, no,” Pelosi said in her weekly briefing Thursday
“You can’t be a little pregnant, it has to be a real measure… So no, it’s not negotiable. What will you negotiate? Whether a woman can prevent?’
Congress was pressured again to act on abortion rights after the Supreme Court voted to allow Roe v. Wade in Jackson v. to overthrow the Women’s Health Organization.
Republican Sens. Susan Collins, Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, Alaska, who opposed the overthrow of Roe v. Wade through the Supreme Court and who have worked on legislation to codify abortion rights believe the WHPA is going too far and could violate the protections of religious liberty.
Murkowski said in a statement ahead of the May vote that the Women’s Health Protection Act was being used as a way to “codify Roe v. Wade,” but “actually goes much further, overriding state and religious liberty laws across the country. ‘
“People don’t like it when we say vote, vote, in 100 days people are going to vote, we need to elect some more democratic senators so we can bypass the filibuster so we can pass legislation that’s really about the law Choosing to impact a woman is not a half thing,” Pelosi said
Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, both opposed to repealing Roe v. Wade do not support the Women’s Health Protection Act and have instead introduced their own narrower abortion legislation
Murkowski noted that the bill does not include the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal dollars from funding abortions, provides no protection of conscience for health care providers who do not want to perform abortions because of their religious beliefs, and ‘allows late-night abortions without significant restrictions.’
Collins said in a statement at the time: “I support the codification of abortion rights proposed by Roe v. Wade and published by Planned Parenthood v. Casey have been confirmed. The Women’s Health Protection Act would not do that. Unlike some far-left activists, Senator Murkowski and I want today’s law to be tomorrow’s law.
Collins said the WHPA would blow up protections for health care providers who don’t want to perform abortions for moral or religious reasons.
She noted that the language in the WHPA states that unless otherwise noted, it “supersedes and governs the law of the federal and state governments,” including the Restoration of Religious Freedom Act.
The legislation of Collins and Murkowski, known as the Reproductive Choice Act, would supersede the language in Roe v. Wade to ban states from imposing a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy prematurely or before the survival of a fetus to an “unreasonable burden” outside the womb. It said states could enact viability abortion restrictions, but not in cases that would harm the health of the mother.
