(PresidentialHill.com)- Immediately after the leaked majority opinion draft was published out of the Supreme Court that signaled Roe v. Wade could be overturned, liberal politicians took to the figurative podium to say it was time for Congress to codify a woman’s right to abortion.
To do that would require a majority vote in the House along with the support of 60 members of the Senate. The House portion of that calculation isn’t much of an issue, with Democrats having a slim majority there.
But, over in the Senate, it would face a much higher hurdle.
That has led to renewed calls from top Democrats who have been calling for the Senate to do away with the filibuster rule that requires 60 votes for a bill to pass.
Liberals who were hoping the issue of abortion and women’s rights would rally Democrats to support the end to the filibuster were dealt a major blow this week, though. Moderate Democratic Senators Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia both said on Tuesday that they wouldn’t vote to get rid of the filibuster, even as it seems as though abortion protection will soon be gone on the federal level.
As Manchin explained earlier this week:
“The filibuster is a protection of democracy.”
Manchin’s declaration shouldn’t be much of a surprise to other Democrats, even if they were holding out hope that he might change his mind. Earlier in the year, Manchin voted down legislation that would have codify a woman’s right to an abortion.
On the flip side, Democratic leaders may have been shocked when Sinema said she wouldn’t vote to get rid of the filibuster rule. Sinema has been very supportive of a woman’s right to an abortion before.
Yet, a spokesperson who works for the Arizona senator said the issue of abortion doesn’t change her views on the filibuster. The spokesperson also pointed out that there have been seven different votes in the Senate that met the threshold of 60 votes in the Senate that all upheld abortion rights.
As she said:
“Protections in the Senate safeguarding against the erosion of women’s access to health care have been used half-a-dozen times in the past 10 years, and are more important now than ever.
“A woman’s health care choices should be between her, her family and her doctor. Overturning Roe v. Wade endangers the health and wellbeing of women in Arizona and across America.”
Abortion rights are sure to be a hot topic of elections from now through the midterms in November, with Democratic candidates already calling for the end to the filibuster to codify abortion rights in the country.
In addition, Democrats across the country are likely to use abortion rights as a way to sway undecided voters for the midterms in an effort to preserve the liberal majority in both chambers of Congress.
For now, though, the wishes of leading congressional Democrats are yet again being done in by two moderate members of their own party.
