Senate Republicans on Thursday succeeded in blocking a “radical” birth control bill that they say would undermine parental rights and religious freedom.
The Senate voted 51-39 against the Birth Control Right Act in a closing vote, falling short of the 60 votes needed to move the bill forward. Sen. Ed Markey’s (D-Mass.) Birth Control Right Act: Introduced The bill was introduced in 2022 and then reintroduced in 2024 before the November election, part of a continuing strategy by Democrats to attack Republicans on “reproductive rights” and make them think they don’t support birth control, while sneaking more expansive provisions into the body of the bill.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
“Over the next few weeks, Senate Democrats will put reproductive freedom at the forefront of this chamber so the American people can see for themselves who will stand up for their fundamental freedoms,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, told CBS News. Focus on it The bill was not expected to pass.
“Today, we not only live in a country where tens of millions of women have their reproductive freedoms taken away, but we live in a country where tens of millions more are worried about something as basic as birth control,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Wednesday morning. “This is totally medieval.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Republicans and pro-life groups countered that access to birth control is not threatened and called the bill a Trojan horse that ignores the views of many Americans.
Ahead of the vote, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) led the Senate majority in introducing a memo. call The revival of this bill is an attempt to mislead voters and “score easy political points.”
“There is no threat to access to contraception; it is legal in every state and health insurance companies are required by law to provide it for free. We are tired of Democrats trying to score easy political points by fear-mongering on this important issue,” the memo read, concluding:
This bill would infringe on the parental rights and religious freedoms of some Americans and allow the federal government to force religious institutions and schools, and even public elementary schools, to provide condoms and other contraception to young children. This is just another way for Democrats to use activist lawyers and the courts to push their radical agenda, and that’s why we oppose this bill.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Major pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony (SBA) Pro-Life America put out Ahead of the vote, Republicans issued statements warning that the bill would repeal conscience protections, including the bill’s text, which explicitly states it would repeal the bipartisan Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
“Pro-life Americans, Dobbs In June of this year, Senate Democrats led by Chuck Schumer plan “This is a month-long fear-mongering campaign to demonize pro-life protections,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America.
Democrats’ deceptive Planned Parenthood bill has more to do with funneling taxpayer money to the abortion industry and suppressing dissent than it does with access to birth control. Birth control is legal and available in every state, and Congress funds birth control each year through numerous federal programs.
SBA Pro-Life America Chair Marjorie Dannenfelser (Astrid Rieken for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“The devil is in the details with this bill. This bill asks taxpayers to bail out for-profit abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood, who force pregnant women into having abortions. 97% of the time, they sold abortions.“It could even create a ‘right’ to abortion pills. It’s clear that the Democratic Party’s priority is not to help women, but to help the abortion lobby that spends millions of dollars to get them elected,” she continued.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X. Follow.
