On Wednesday afternoon the full Senate will vote on legislation to protect the right to contraception. Twenty-two Republicans have signed a letter stating they will vote against the bill, claiming it violates religious liberties, parental rights, and even baselessly claiming it provides “condoms to little kids.”
“An overwhelming bipartisan majority of Americans support the Right to Contraception Act (81%), which aims to protect access to birth control pills, IUDs, condoms, and other forms of contraception,” pollsters at Navigator Research report. That includes 90% of Democrats, 75% of Republicans, and 70% of independents.
In his 2022 concurring opinion on the Supreme Court decision stripping women of the constitutional right to abortion, Justice Clarence Thomas issued a call for cases to challenge a landmark ruling, Griswold v. Connecticut, which found a constitutional right to contraception. Justice Thomas targeted all rulings that found a right to privacy, which the far-right justices believe does not exist in the Constitution. Should he be successful, the Court theoretically would strike down settled decisions that include the right to contraception, the right to same-sex intimate relations, and the right to marriage for same-sex couples.
The Senate Democrats’ bill explains why the right to contraception is at risk.
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“Providers’ refusals to offer contraceptives and information related to contraception based on their own personal beliefs impede patients from obtaining their preferred method, with laws in 12 States as of the date of introduction of this Act specifically allowing health care providers to refuse to provide services related to contraception.”
The Guttmacher Institute confirms that 12-state charge.
The bill goes on to note: “States have attempted to define abortion expansively so as to include contraceptives in State bans on abortion and have also restricted access to emergency contraception.”
But according to Republicans, led by far-right U.S. Senator Rick Scott of Florida (photo), the legislation, known as the Right to Contraception Act, “infringes on the parental rights and religious liberties of some Americans and lets the federal government force religious institutions and schools, even public elementary schools, to offer contraception like condoms to little kids. It’s just another way for Democrats to use activist attorneys and our courts to advance their radical agenda and that is why we oppose this bill.”
That appears to be false. The bill specifically states the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act supersedes the Right to Contraception Act. Also appearing to be false is the claim the legislation provides “condoms to little kids.” No text in the bill states condoms will be handed out to children.
Despite the facts stated in the bill, Senator Scott, who is running to replace retiring Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, also claimed in his letter: “There is no threat to access to contraception, which is legal in every state and required by law to be offered at no cost by health insurers, and it’s disgusting that Democrats are fearmongering on this important issue to score cheap political points.”
Senator Scott’s press release says in addition to Scott, the 22 Senate Republicans signing his letter are: Ron Johnson, Eric Schmitt, Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Kevin Cramer, Ted Budd, James Lankford, Jim Risch, Mike Rounds, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Katie Britt, Bill Hagerty, Cynthia Lummis, John Thune, Lindsey Graham, Thom Tillis, Mike Crapo, and Steve Daines.
On Tuesday the Senate debated the contraception bill. U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) slammed the positions and actions of a Republican witness.
Watch below or at this link.