ABORTION FIGHT

House Passes Bill Protecting Right to Contraception

The bill passed largely along party lines, with only eight Republicans joining Democrats in support. However it is almost certainly doomed to fail in the Senate.

The House passed legislation Thursday protecting the right to contraceptives throughout the country, largely along party lines. Only eight Republicans joined Democrats in passing the Right to Contraception Act: Liz Cheney, Brian Fitzpatrick, Anthony Gonzalez, John Katko, Adam Kinzinger, Nancy Mace, Maria Salazar, and Fred Upton. The bill, which protects citizens’ right to buy and use contraceptives without government restriction, is almost certainly doomed to fail in the Senate, where most Republicans will likely vote against it. The right to contraception has been protected for more than 50 years by the Supreme Court case Griswold v. Connecticut, but the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade has sparked fear that it may be in peril. In his concurring Roe opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the right to birth control, among other rights, “should be reconsidered.”