Although the House Democrats did not have the majority of 60 votes (out of a hundred) needed to pass the bill, they insisted on putting the text to a vote, in a symbolic move.
A fierce battle is taking place in the US Congress between progressives who seek to protect the right to abortion as enshrined in the Constitution and conservatives who are waiting for the opportunity to pounce on this practice, which they assert is contrary to their principles.
“For the first time in 50 years, an ultra-majority in the Supreme Court is on the cusp of ruling that women have no right to control their own bodies,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said ahead of the vote.
All Republican senators voted against the bill, accusing their leader, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Democratic majority of seeking to impose “abortions on demand.”
The biggest setback for the Democrats came when their comrade, Senator Joe Manchin, joined the Republicans in voting against the text.
The Supreme Court is preparing to issue a decision overturning a ruling issued by this highest judicial body in the United States half a century ago, according to which the right to abortion is enshrined in the American Constitution.
And if the Supreme Court issues its decision in the form that it was leaked in early May, this means that the prohibition or permitting of abortion will return to each state separately.
Earlier this year, Politico reported that the US Supreme Court intends to overturn the historic ruling it issued in 1973, which held that women’s right to abortion is enshrined in the US Constitution.
The newspaper said that its information is based on a draft decision dated February 10 drafted by conservative judge Samuel Alito and won the support of the majority of court members, but this text is still being discussed among court members, pending its final version before the end of June.
If the Supreme Court upholds this decision definitively, the United States will revert to the status quo that existed before 1973 when every state was free to allow or prohibit abortion.
In 1973, the Supreme Court, at the conclusion of its consideration of the “Roe v. Wade” case, issued a ruling that set a precedent, as it guaranteed the right of a woman to voluntarily terminate her pregnancy as long as her fetus was unable to survive outside her womb, that is, up to about 22 weeks from the start of pregnancy .
Republican-led states are seeking to tighten restrictions on abortion, sometimes banning it outright after six weeks of pregnancy, before many women realize they are pregnant.
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