Democrats’ contraception play to put Republicans on record

Senate Democrats staged a vote on Wednesday to protect access to contraception that Republicans voted to block.

The legislation never really had any chance of passing. While Democrats in the House passed it last Congress under a Democratic majority, House Speaker Mike Johnson is unlikely to bring it to a vote given his thin majority.

The filibuster--the 60-vote threshold in the Senate required to pass legislation--still exists and only two Republicans, Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, voted for the legislation.

Newly-minted independent Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who voted to kill abortion rights legislation in 2022, told The Independent he was supporting the legislation “because I have about six granddaughters. That says it all.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer knew this when he held the vote. Rather, the vote had two purposes: to show that Democrats care about access to contraception while also reminding people that Republicans voted for the Supreme Court justices who killed Roe v Wade.

“People need to know what's on the ballot,” Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told The Independent. “And every Republican is now going to be on record. That's how it should be.”

Indeed, Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, who is running for re-election as Democrats seek to hold onto their 51-seat majority, cited the fact that Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his concurring opinion in Dobbs v Jackson that the court “should reconsider” Griswold v Connecticut, which ruled that states had no right to ban contraception.

“Certainly when something is supported by 80 percent of the American public, you would hope that just that alone would lead to consideration of it,” she said.