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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.

The bill defines "contraception" as "an action taken to prevent pregnancy, including the use of contraceptives or fertility-awareness-based methods and sterilization procedures," and "contraceptive" as any drugs, devices or biological products used for pregnancy prevention that are cleared in accordance with either the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act or the Public Health Service Act.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, whose state has a near-total abortion ban, heavily criticized the bill.

"The bill is an overt attempt to circumvent states' ability to direct family planning funding to providers that do not promote abortion while being overly broad in defining contraception to include drugs for chemical abortions," he wrote on X on Monday. "The Supreme Court has already affirmed the right to access contraception and there is not an existent threat to individual access."

The House passed this bill in July 2022, when it was still controlled by Democrats.

With the Republicans now in charge of the House, this bill does not stand much of a chance of getting a vote in that chamber. However, on Tuesday, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., will lead a group of Democratic House members in rallying for it at a press conference.

After this bill, Schumer said there will be more to come on reproductive rights, which will play out in the lead-up to the November elections in which this is a major issue.