The Senate will vote later this week on a bill to codify a statutory right to contraception, ahead of the two-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
When the high court overturned Roe in 2022, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in a concurring opinion that down the line the court should reconsider other substantive due process precedents, such as the right to contraception.
“The hard-right MAGA Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade opened the floodgates for Republicans to force their anti-reproductive freedom, anti-women agenda down the throats of all Americans,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in a “dear colleague” letter on Sunday.
“We’ve seen right-wing judges, justices and extremist Republicans calling on the Supreme Court to reconsider the constitutional right to contraception and states are trying to ban access to some or all contraceptives by restricting public funding for these products and services,” he continued.
Schumer said members should expect a vote on Wednesday on the Right to Contraception Act, which would create a statutory right for contraception and a related right for healthcare providers to provide contraception, and allow the U.S. Department of Justice to go to court to enforce such rights.
