The Senate blocked the bill that would have protected Americans who travel out of state to get an abortion, but the House will move forward with a similar bill on Friday.
There is a press conference outside of the U.S. Capitol building.
The Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act would have restricted states and officials from barring anyone from traveling to another state to receive reproductive health care, or punishing anyone who helps them.
The Ensuring Access to Abortion Act bars states from prohibiting people from getting or aiding out-of-state abortions if abortion is legal in the state they are traveling to.
The legislation protects medication abortions because states can't prohibit interstate commerce of drugs that have been approved by the FDA.
Civil lawsuits can be brought by people who were punished for out-of-state abortions.
The Ensuring Access to Abortion Act will probably succeed on Friday, though it is unlikely to become law since it would need 60 votes to clear the Senate.
The Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act was heavily opposed by Senate Republicans because of their opposition to abortion and their belief that the bill's protections for crossing state lines is not necessary. How are you going to prevent someone from going somewhere? The bill was called "absurd" by Senator Bill Cassidy. I think that is silly. They are trying to fool the American people into thinking they are doing something significant.
How many states will attempt to restrict abortion? While no states explicitly bar going out of state for an abortion, a Missouri lawmaker has introduced legislation to do so, and anti-abortion advocates have begun pushing to include out-of-state prohibitions in future anti- abortion bills. Texas Senate Bill 8 banned abortion by allowing private citizens to bring civil lawsuits against those who aided or abetted the procedure. The conflict between the two sets of state policies is likely to play out in court as other Democratic states have passed laws or imposed executive orders with protections for people that travel to their states for abortion care or those who help them.
Democrats are proposing to protect interstate abortion travel as they struggle to respond to the Supreme Court's decision. While several Democratic-led committees held hearings this week on the ruling and its impacts, abortion rights advocates are hamstrung by the Senate, which has already struck down bills twice that would codify abortion rights in federal law. If the Senate were to abolish the filibuster for abortion rights, a bill could be passed with a simple majority. The president has urged Americans to vote for two more Democratic senators in order to get rid of the filibuster, even though moderate Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) still oppose it.
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