Senate to vote on Roe v. Wade abortion rights bill

Senate Republicans on Wednesday are set to block a bill that would make the Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision law, as Democrats scramble to preserve protections that the Supreme Court could soon toss out after nearly five decades.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer forged ahead with the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2022, even as it appeared doomed to stall. After a draft court opinion that would overturn Roe leaked — inflaming the national abortion rights debate and energizing Democrats for November’s midterm elections — the New York Democrat aimed to put every senator’s stance on the record.

All Republicans in the Senate, which is split 50-50 between the GOP and Democrats, are expected to vote against advancing the bill Wednesday — leaving it short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster and allow a vote to proceed. One Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, opposed moving ahead with a similar bill earlier this year and has not yet revealed how he will vote Wednesday.

“Republicans who pretended disingenuously as if this moment couldn’t possibly happen will have to answer to the women of America whose rights are about to be turned back by decades,” Schumer said Tuesday on the Senate floor. “Tomorrow, there will be no more hiding. There will be no more distracting, no more obfuscating where every member in this chamber stands.”

The bill would bar states from banning abortion before fetal viability — generally considered 24 weeks — and in certain cases after that point when a medical provider determines a pregnancy poses a risk to a person’s health. It would also stop states from taking steps to limit access to certain drugs and abortion services, and ban governments from requiring medically unnecessary doctor’s visits.

Democrats appear to have no path toward passing the bill, or a similar measure to cement federal abortion rights, unless they scrap the filibuster for legislation. Doing so would require only 51 votes to pass bills. At least two Democratic senators, Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have signaled they will not vote to get rid of the filibuster.

For now, any push by Democrats to pass legislation appears designed to muster enthusiasm among voters who support abortion rights. Schumer doesn’t have any Republican support for the legislation — even from Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, considered the two GOP senators most likely to vote to protect abortion rights.

“Nothing’s going to change. The vote’s going to be the same,” Murkowski said Monday, referencing her opposition to similar legislation that Republicans and…