Nancy Pelosi.Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
The House passed legislation on Friday that would protect abortion rights.
In a vote 218 to 211, all but one Democrat voted in favor of H.R. 3755,the Women’s Health Protection Act, that effectively codifies the landmarkRoe v. Wadedecision in 1973 that granted women’s right to abortion. Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar voted against to the legislation along with all Republicans.
The Women’s Health Protection Act specifies that the legislation would grant access to abortion to “every person capable of becoming pregnant.”
Pro-choice protesters march outside the Texas State Capitol on Wednesday, Sept. 1, in Austin, Texas.Sergio Flores For The Washington Post via Getty
During Friday’s House debate, several Democratic and Republican senators shared their personal stories about abortion and women’s health care, theWashington Postreported.
The outlet noted that during a news conference on Thursday, Democratic leaders said they have been seeking an opportunity to codify Roe v. Wade, but did not previously have the supportive numbers to move forward.
She also called Texas' law that went into effect on Sept. 1 “un-American,” the outlet reported.
Texas’Senate Bill 8which essentially eliminates the rights of Roe v. Wade, passed through the Texas legislature in May and took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to act on an emergency request to stop the ban.
The law “would immediately and catastrophically reduce abortion access in Texas, barring care for at least 85 percent of Texas abortion patients (those who are six weeks pregnant or greater) and likely forcing many abortion clinics ultimately to close,” abortion providers said in the emergency request to the Supreme Court.
Thehighly restrictivebillprohibits abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, which is before most people know they’re pregnant. Often called a “heartbeat ban,” the law is based on when the fetal heartbeat can first be detected, the earliest being six weeks into pregnancy.
Senate Bill 8 does not allow exceptions for pregnancies that are the result of incest or rape.
Under the law, private citizens can also sue abortion providers whom they suspect illegally performed an abortion after six weeks or anyone who aided in an abortion, including driving someone to a clinic or helping them with the cost. If the lawsuit is successful, they will be awarded a minimum of $10,000.
Anti-abortion groups have been vocal about enacting these near-bans to set up a legal battle in the hopes of overturning Roe v. Wade, which theSupreme Court is expected to take upduring its next term, which begins in October.
Soon after, the Department of Justice announced they would sue Texas over the new law.
“The act is clearly unconstitutional under long-standing Supreme Court precedent,” Attorney General Merrick Garlandsaid at a news conferenceannouncing the suit.
“It is settled constitutional law that ‘a State may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability,'” the lawsuit reads. “But Texas has done just that.”
source: people.com
