The vote on the #RightToContraceptionAct was 51-39, falling short of the 60 votes needed to defeat a #filibuster & move forward. Republicans said the bill is unnecessary as the use of #BirthControl is protected under #SCOTUS precedent as if [#SupremeCourt precedent means anything anymore].
#Republicans Lisa #Murkowski of Alaska & #SusanCollins of Maine voted w/ #Democrats in support of the bill. #Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, switched his vote to “no” for procedural reasons so he could bring up the bill again at a later date.
The legislation would establish nationwide #rights for individuals to “obtain #contraceptives & to voluntarily engage in #contraception” & protect #healthcare providers who offer it. It defines contraceptives as “any drug, device, or biological product intended for use in the prevention of pregnancy” & prohibits #federal or #state governments from enforcing #laws or standards that impede that right. It empowers the #DOJ & affected private entities to sue to enforce the new protections.
#Democrats argue the bill is necessary because #SCOTUS cannot be trusted to uphold its #precedent on protecting the use of #contraceptives in the 1965 case #GriswoldVConnecticut. They note that when the court invalidated federal #AbortionRights in 2022, Justice #ClarenceThomas wrote separately saying that the court “should reconsider” other precedents like the #contraception case. And they cite a recent survey that found 1 in 5 Americans believe the right to contraception is under threat.
“Far-right conservatives are sowing misinformation that inaccurately characterizes IUDs, emergency contraception, even birth-control pills as causing abortions.”
#Republicans in ≥17 states have blocked #laws assuring the right to #BirthControl since 2022. Most recently, #Virginia Gov Glenn #Youngkin (R) vetoed a bill meant to ensure #access to #contraceptives, saying while he personally supports access, he was loath to “trample on the #religious freedoms of Virginians,” incl’g #medical providers [what about everyone else’s freedoms?] #Trump suggested that he was open to restricting access to #contraception.
Many #Americans do not understand the difference between #abortion pills, which end a pregnancy, & emergency #contraception, which prevents it. Nearly ¾ of Americans incorrectly think that emergency contraceptive pills can end a pregnancy in its early stages, according to a 2023 poll by KFF, a nonprofit focused on national #health issues.
Antiabortion groups are stepping in to fill that knowledge gap w/ #disinformation.
#Medical societies say it’s wrong to characterize emergency #contraceptive pills, a #BirthControl method used w/in days of unprotected sex, & IUDs, which are long-acting & reversible, as causing #abortions bc NEITHER END AN EXISTING PREGNANCY.
'because #pregnancy is the result of "voluntary and consensual sexual intercourse," students should not be allowed time off to get abortions. If the students disobey and miss class for #abortion care, the filing continues, the professors should be allowed to flunk students. Additionally, Bonevac asserts that he has a right to refuse to employ a teaching assistant who has had an abortion, calling such women "criminals."'
NYT- Sen. Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, plans to fast-track a Senate vote next month on a bill to protect access to #contraception in the U.S. — a constitutional right many voters view as at risk. It's part of an election-year push to highlight Republicans’ record of opposing reproductive rights.
"Donald Trump touted to a Pittsburgh TV station his forthcoming position on restricting contraception – but before day’s end had completely backtracked and scuttled any talk of restricting contraception. Which Trump do you believe?"
Greg Olear continues his valuable reporting on the coterie of hard-right Catholics who have such influence on our federal government and who control the Supreme Court as a bloc. The coterie includes Leonard Leo, who is the kingmaker for the court, Kevin Roberts of Heritage Foundation, and Robert P. George of the Federalist Society.
In conversation with Jenny Cohn, who maintains the blog Christian Right Observer Weekly, he sketches the agenda of this hard-right Catholic coterie with such control at the Supreme Court level and in our federal government:
"The Christian extremists are dedicated to criminalizing 1) abortion, 2) gay sex of any kind, and 3) contraception. They have made this very clear."
Kristen Thomason reports on how anti-abortion groups rooted in religious bodies are now using TikTok to spread doubts about artificial contraceptives, with active buy-in from some celebrity "wellness gurus" influential in youth culture. This initiative is being heavily funded by hard-right funders, and its ultimate goal is to extent the right's war on abortion to birth control.
Jason Sattler says that if you don't want to read the 920-page prescription of policies Project 2025 informs us Republicans will enact if given control of the federal government again, then read just one sentence, which sums up the whole project:
"'But the Dobbs decision is just the beginning.'
That would be the governing philosophy of a second Trump regime."
Kristen Thomason notes that the right-wing Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld a lower court ruling that gives Alex Deanda of Texas the right to deny his daughters access to birth control available through the federal government’s Title X free contraception program.
"Texas has become a pipeline for right-wing legal decisions. Deanda v. Becerra is just the latest case engineered by conservative backers and run through a court system stacked with sympathetic judges willing to legislate from the bench to impose their bigoted interpretation of Christianity on the country.
Unfortunately, with Trump-appointed judges presiding at every level of the judiciary, this machine may just be getting warmed up."
Why are lies about the effects of contraceptives on young women spreading like wildfire now on social media? Jill Filipovic says,
"A concerted effort by conservative anti-abortion groups to sow distrust in the very medications that prevent abortions — and keep women free and independent."
"The anti-abortion movement (a term that is itself inadequate, given that this movement is also anti-contraception and anti-IVF) is using the legislatures and the courts to try to ban or limit access to some of the most highly-effective contraceptives. They’re using social media to foster distrust of birth control among young women."