As expected, the bill put forward by Democrats to codify the right to an abortion into federal law failed to win enough votes in the Senate. The final tally was 49-51, with Sen. Joe Manchin joining all Republicans in voting against it. The legislation would have needed 60 votes to be filibuster proof. The Washington Post writes:
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats have acknowledged that the vote was about mobilizing voters, not passing legislation in a Congress, where Democrats hold majorities but do not have the votes to defeat Republican filibusters or change the Senate rules to eliminate them.
“This question will not go away,” Schumer said Wednesday before the vote. “Americans strongly oppose getting rid of Roe, and they will be paying close attention from now until November to Republicans who are responsible for its demise.”
The Washington Post
The irony of men making decisions on the private lives of millions of American women was not lost on one Democrat, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont.
Here we are today, a body of 100, 76% of which are male, making decisions about the private lives of the nearly 168 million women in this country. That’s ludicrous.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
