With the Supreme Court’s conservative majority set to overturn Roe versus Wade, the U.S. Senate will vote this week to protect abortion rights. Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin notes the vote is likely to fall short, and says Democrats should do more.
“I don’t know that we could get 60 votes, as would be required in the United States Senate, so we would to look at abolishing the filibuster,” she said, insisting that ending the filibuster is achievable .
“The Democrats, if all of us stick together, could do that. And it’s also possible that one or two Republicans might join us.”
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said that Wednesday’s vote to codify abortion rights is about putting Senators on the record. He’s given no indication there will be action on the filibuster.
The Women’s Health Protection Act on which Baldwin is a co-author passed the House of Representatives last September but has not yet passed the Senate.
Republicans in congress are focused on the leaked draft opinion that indicated the court’s conservative majority’s intent to overturn Roe. “It’s really revealing to me that so many of my Republican colleagues in the Senate chose to criticize the leak, and didn’t really give any attention to the subject matter of the opinion,” Baldwin said.
If Roe is overturned, state legislatures would have control over regulating women’s reproductive choices. Wisconsin’s Republican U.S. Senator Ron Johnson said Friday that he’s comfortable with that, but told reporters he didn’t think Wisconsin’s 19th century abortion law ”will stand for long.”
The law, which prohibits abortion in nearly all cases, would be enforceable once Roe is overturned. Johnson said he thinks “the democratic process in Wisconsin will have something other than the 1849 law.” Republicans who control both chambers of the legislature have not given any indications on altering the law.