SENATORS ON RECORD TO ELIMINATE HEALTH AND SAFETY REGULATIONS FOR ABORTION PROVIDERS
Bill would also mandate late-term abortion in all 50 States
Fairfax, VA - Senator Schumer scheduled a second vote to advance the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), a bill that would go further than Roe. The legislation failed to garner the 60 vote threshold required to move the bill forward for debate.
“This is an extreme bill that goes further than Roe,” said Kristen Day, Executive Director, Democrats For Life of America. “Senator Schumer wanted to put Senators on record and he may not like the outcome this fall. A vote against abortion extremism will bring voters to the polls - particularly in the states like Ohio, Georgia, and Arizona that are toss-ups.”
The legislation would prohibit states from regulating abortion which Roe allowed in many circumstances. Roe created a framework allowing for states to pass limits and regulations; Roe prohibits abortion bans in the first trimesters, allows reasonable regulation in the second trimester, and allows total prohibitions in the third trimesters.
“The WHPA would eliminate the ability of states to pass reasonable regulation and limitations on abortion,” explained Day. “I am confounded as to why the Democratic Party is pushing a bill that will allow an industry to avoid any governmental oversight and operate freely without health and safety protocols.”
“Instead of voting on this radical legislation that goes beyond Roe v. Wade, we need to be supporting pregnant women so they have the resources to deliver to full-term and raise their children,” added Jess Meeth, Communications Director for Democrats For Life. “We are currently experiencing a shortage of baby formula. There is a growing and urgent need to help mothers. Parents are worried and concerned, and we should be, too. We need to be finding solutions that will provide parents and families with what they need.”
“The WHPA does not offer women alternatives to abortion. It only promotes and expands abortion, even after viability,” continued Meeth. “Women deserve real choice, real support, and real resources to carry and raise children.”
DFLA is advocating for stronger social safety nets and connections and access to them. Guttmacher Institute reported that 75% of women having abortions were below the poverty line. “The WHPA does not address this gap. It fails to give women the resources they want and need during and after pregnancy,” Meeth stated.
According to the U.S. Department of HHS’s website, “The Pregnancy Assistance Fund (PAF) was a $25 million competitive grant program that funded states and tribes so they could provide a seamless network of support services to expectant and parenting teens, women, parents, and families.” PAF funding was cut in 2019. Congress has not yet reauthorized the program.
“Imagine if the money that would fund abortion went to PAF and other programs and initiatives to give women facing economic hardship the means to carry, birth, and raise their children,” Meeth expressed.
