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Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world.
Americas+1 212 318 2000
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Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000
By Lillianna Byington and Nancy Vu
Congressional Republicans are pushing less aggressive anti-abortion legislation than they have in the past, a result of the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the tricky politics of restricting abortion access.
Ahead of this Friday’s “March for Life,” an annual event that draws thousands of anti-abortion activists to Washington D.C., the new GOP-led Senate will vote today on a bill (
But more significant than the expected defeat is that Republicans are pushing a relatively narrow bill, even as grassroots activists would prefer they codify broader bans on abortions.
“What we’re doing here is honoring what the courts have said on states’ thinking of this issue for the most part,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said about the strategy of Republicans allowing states to make their own choices on abortion restrictions.
Republicans, who have brought this bill up before, are painting the measure as one their caucus can get behind, and one they say is needed to expand on a 2002 law by adding enforcement. But Democrats and medical groups have called the legislation misleading, lobbying against the measure that they argue doesn’t reflect the reality of abortion care.
In the past, Republicans have pushed for more aggressive bills on the floor during the March for Life. In his first term, President Donald Trump became the first president to attend the March for Life rally in person and he also called on the Senate to pass a bill banning abortions after 20 weeks. The Senate heeded his call and voted on the bill, but it failed to get enough votes to break the filibuster.
This time around, Trump wavered on his abortion positions during the election cycle as Roe v. Wade complicated some races but did pledge that he wouldn’t support a federal abortion ban.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said he doesn’t expect the Senate to hold a lot of votes on abortion-related measures during this session, considering the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs ruling handed authority to the states to decide how they’ll proceed on the issue. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), when asked about reintroducing his legislation for a 20-week abortion ban, said he would talk to his colleagues to “see where we’re at on that.”
Left unsaid by Republicans is that public polling has shown that broad federal abortion bans are not popular with voters. Indeed, Democratic Sens. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan won competitive races last fall in part by prioritizing their opposition to abortion restrictions.
Republicans this week are using the measure to put lawmakers on the record about one part of the abortion debate that they see as hard to argue against.
“This vote will ask Democrats to answer whether a living baby born after an attempted abortion should be provided with medical care or be left to die,” said Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.). “It shouldn’t be a hard question.”
Democrats pan it as an attack on reproductive care to intimidate healthcare providers. They are using the debate on the legislation to call out the broader consequences in states that have enacted abortion bans.
“After an entire election cycle where our new president has said we’re not going to nationalize this issue, the first thing they do is bring up this bill,” Baldwin said.
However, some activist groups don’t believe the bill goes far enough to protect infants. Katie Brown, the national director of the American Life League, called the efforts of the Senate bill “the absolute bare minimum.”
“Our lawmakers have a sworn duty to fight for all American citizens, especially the most vulnerable among us,” Brown said in a written statement. The American Life League “encourages every lawmaker to vote for bills that enshrine the right to life from the moment of creation, and not as an afterthought when the child’s attempted murder has failed.”
Meanwhile, Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, who has faced opposition from anti-abortion groups for his more liberal positions on the issue. Republican senators had downplayed their policy differences with Kennedy, emphasizing that the Democrat-turned-Independent would be working to advance Trump’s agenda — not his own. Kennedy, who faces concerns over other unconventional health views, has yet to be scheduled for a hearing.
When asked whether his conversations with the nominee alleviated any concerns about Kennedy’s past stances on abortion, Cornyn said he expected the pick to not act as a “free agent.”
“He’s going to working for President Trump,” Cornyn said. “So I expect him to be pursuing President Trump’s policies and not his own.”
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