“The filibuster is a protection of democracy,” Manchin, D-W.Va., explained to reporters when pressed about calls to codify abortion rights after a leaked draft Supreme Court opinion showed a majority of justices were in favor of reversing Roe v. Wade. A spokesperson for Sinema, D-Ariz., announced that the filibuster was “more important than ever,” mentioning seven times it had protected against abortion rights infringements in the past.
“Protections in the Senate safeguarding against the erosion of women’s access to health care have been used half-a-dozen times in the past 10 years and are more important now than ever,” the Sinema spokesperson explained to Axios.
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“A woman’s health care choices should be between her, her family, and her doctor. Overturning Roe v. Wade endangers the health and wellbeing of women in Arizona and across America,” she went on. Even without the filibuster, Democrats likely wouldn’t have the votes to codify abortion rights.
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In February, Manchin voted with Republicans in opposition to the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), which would codify abortion rights, a bill already passed the House. Democrats would probably need to pick up more seats in the Senate this fall, in addition to finishing the filibuster, for abortion legislation to get to President Biden’s desk.
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Biden, in his own remarks on the leaked opinion, made a direct appeal to voters and perhaps a veiled shot at Manchin.
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“If the Court does overturn Roe, it will fall on our nation’s elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman’s right to choose. And it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November,” Biden pressed. “At the federal level, we will need more pro-choice Senators and a pro-choice majority in the House to adopt legislation that codifies Roe which I will work to pass and sign into law.”
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The President insisted that after Roe, a slew of other privacy rights could be under attack. “Equally profound is the rationale used -- it would mean that every other decision relating to the notion of privacy is thrown into question.”
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“If the rationale of the decision as released were to be sustained, a whole range of rights would be in question,’” Biden went on. “If it becomes a law and if what is written is remained, it goes far beyond the concern of whether or not there is the right to choose. It goes to other basic rights.”
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