The House narrowly passed legislation on Friday to codify Roe v. Wade, which was brought to the floor in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to deny an emergency appeal filed by abortion providers to block the Texas heartbeat bill earlier this month.
The tally was 218-211. No Republicans voted in favor of the measure, and one Democrat, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), broke party lines and voted against the legislation.
The Women’s Health Protection Act — introduced by Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) — would bar restrictions to abortions including “mandatory waiting periods, biased counseling, two-trip requirements, and mandatory ultrasounds.”
Democrats have charged the Texas bill is unconstitutional, vowing to do everything in their power to overturn the policy.
“This is about freedom, about freedom of women having a choice about the size and timing of their families, not the business of people on the court, or members of Congress, it’s about themselves,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said ahead of the vote. “But it’s also about freedom from the danger of vigilantes. So when this court embraced this shameful Texas law, they brought shame to the United States Supreme Court.”
Republicans slammed the bill, arguing that it goes beyond codifying Roe v. Wade.
“This is exactly what they did in New York when Gov. [Andrew] Cuomo lied to everyone and said it was just codifying Roe v. Wade, and that ended up being a late-term abortion bill that in New York’s law hey even changed the penal code so if a woman was assaulted, and she lost her baby as a result of miscarriage, they couldn’t charge the perpetrator for homicide,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) told The Post.
The Supreme Court on Sept. 2 voted 5-4 to uphold Texas’ new policy to ban the procedure after six weeks and allow for individuals to file civil suits against abortion providers or those who help facilitate abortions.