WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday passed legislation to ensure access to birth control across the country, overcoming near-unanimous Republican opposition to protect a right considered newly threatened following the destruction of Roe v. Wade by the United States. Supreme Court.
The measure will almost certainly fail in the evenly divided Senate, which most Republicans are likely to oppose as well. The vote was the final step in the election year for Democrats to make a sharp distinction from Republicans on a social issue that enjoys broad support.
The measure went from 228 to 195, with eight Republicans joining Democrats. It would protect the right to buy and use contraception without government restriction. The legislation received only slightly more support from Republicans than two bills passed by the House last week aimed at ensuring access to abortion in the post-Roe era; almost all Republicans were united in opposition.
That vote reflected the growing acceptance of same-sex marriage in the United States, with polls showing a large majority — including most Republicans — in support. Even more Americans, 92 percent, said they viewed birth control as “morally acceptable,” according to a Gallup poll in May.
But for many Republicans, the issue of access to birth control is linked to abortion rights, a much more polarizing topic that is anathema to much of the party. Some Republicans said on Thursday they supported birth control in practice but saw the Democrats’ bill as a gateway to allowing abortion. Anti-abortion groups encouraged lawmakers to oppose the measure, claiming that the definition of contraceptives in the bill could be interpreted to include pills that induce abortion.
The wave of legislative action in the House is a direct response from the Democrat-led Congress to last month’s Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the nearly 50-year right to abortion. The decision raised alarm that other long-standing rights could be jeopardized by the conservative court.
In a concurring opinion, Judge Clarence Thomas explicitly said other precedents, including those protecting same-sex marriage and the right to contraception, “need to be reconsidered.”
The constitutional right to contraception has been protected for more than five decades by the 1965 Supreme Court ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut.
Democrats on Thursday tried to portray Republicans as a party of extremists, claiming they would try to roll back firmly established rights and disagree with the views of most voters.
Read more about abortion issues in America
“An extreme GOP, an extreme Supreme Court, they want to take away your freedom and your control over your own life,” said Minnesota Democrat Representative Angie Craig. “We are in an absurd time.”
Before the vote, she said: “Honestly, I’m shocked that we have to vote on this damn bill at all. This is not an extremist issue. This is an extremist GOP”
Republicans, in turn, argued that Democrats intended to find new ways to increase access to abortion.
Washington Republican Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers said she supported access to birth control but strongly opposed the bill, which she described as a “Trojan horse for more abortions.”
Ms. McMorris Rodgers said part of her concern was that the bill would send more taxpayer money to Planned Parenthood, which offers abortion services in addition to contraception.
“Instead of working with us, Democrats are once again spreading fear and misinformation to score political points,” she said.
Half of the eight Republicans who broke with their parties to support the measure are withdrawing from Congress, including Representatives Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Fred Upton of Michigan. The rest — Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Nancy Mace of South Carolina and María Elvira Salazar of Florida — have sought to appeal to moderates and independent voters to bolster their reelection bids.
Ms. Mace took to the house floor Thursday with a scribbled message taped to the back of her blazer: “My State Forbids Exceptions – PROTECT CONTRACEPTION.” It referred to new legislation being proposed in South Carolina that would ban nearly all abortions, with no exceptions for rape or incest victims.
“You can’t ban abortion and then protect women’s access to contraceptives,” Ms Mace wrote on Twitter.
Democrats saw the vote as a way to show voters that they were doing everything they could to protect the rights that are widely popular in the United States — and that the Republicans were standing in the way.
The vote came as progressives harshly criticized Democrats after Roe’s demise for failing to do more to protect abortion rights and for being slow to respond when the Supreme Court knocked them down in a widely anticipated ruling.
Although the Marriage Equality Act gained much more support among Republicans than expected, fewer than a quarter of party representatives supported it. Still, the margin was enough to propel that measure from a messaging bill that would die in the Senate to a legislative vehicle with a chance — albeit a small one — to enter.
New York Democrat and Majority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer said he was surprised by the amount of Republican support for that bill. He added that he would work to get it to the ground and get the support of 10 Republicans in the Senate to make sure it could get past a filibuster.
Kentucky Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has declined to take a position on the bill. On Thursday, South Dakota Senator John Thune, his No. 2, told Punchbowl News that there might be enough Republican support to pass it.
The contraceptive measure has a longer shot in the Senate. Democrats in that chamber tried to win Republicans’ support on Thursday and failed to swiftly pass legislation that would provide funding for a range of reproductive care options, including birth control and cancer screening.
“I’m not at all convinced by the Republican words about wanting to support women and families,” said Washington Democrat Senator Patty Murray, one of three female senators who unsuccessfully tried to speed up the measure.
Republicans blocked it, citing the same reason their colleagues in the House had offered to vote against the contraceptive measure: They claimed it would increase access to abortion.
“This bill is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst said. “While the language supports access to family planning, in reality it is likely a $5 billion gift to Planned Parenthood and other abortion-related providers.”
Stephanie Laic contributed reporting from Washington.
