Senate Democrats Push Republicans to Explain Refusal to Codify Right to Contraception and Allow Women to Travel for Health Care on Anniversary of Roe v. Wade Decision

Washington D.C. – On the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Senate Democrats are pushing Republicans to explain why they refuse to codify the right to contraception and why they won’t let women travel across state lines for lifesaving health care.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said in a statement that the year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade has led to “a full-blown health care crisis.” First Lady Jill Biden echoed this sentiment, saying Tuesday that the consequences for women of losing the constitutional right to an abortion “go far beyond the right to choose.”

Biden hosted a conversation with four women, including a Texas doctor, who shared emotional stories of being denied necessary reproductive care. The ruling last June left it up to individual states to set their own abortion policies, and 18 of them — including the home states of Biden’s guests — have put abortion bans in place.

Democrats are now pushing for the passage of two bills that would codify the right to contraception and allow women to travel across state lines for lifesaving health care. However, they need the “unanimous consent” of all 100 senators for the bills to move forward, and they don’t have that.

The anniversary of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade has brought to light the need for codifying the right to contraception and allowing women to travel across state lines for lifesaving health care. Senate Democrats are pushing Republicans to explain why they refuse to do so, and the stories of the women Biden hosted at the White House have highlighted the importance of these issues.