Pelosi Outmaneuvers Clarence Thomas & Passes Contraception Bill 228-195

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On Thursday, the House passed a bill to put the right to access contraceptives into federal law after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recently said the court should reconsider the past case in which it established key protections for accessing contraception.

Thomas outlined that stance in a concurring opinion in Dobbs, the case in which the conservative majority decided to overturn Roe v. Wade. No other Justice joined Thomas in that concurring opinion, but the fact the majority on the court eliminated federal protections for abortion means cutting off access to another critical form of healthcare services obviously isn’t somehow unimaginable. In the House on Thursday, 228 members voted for the bill protecting access to contraception, and 195 members — all of whom were Republicans — voted against it. Eight Republicans voted for the measure, including Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), John Katko (N.Y.), Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), Nancy Mace (S.C.), Maria Elvira Salazar (Fla.), and Fred Upton (Mich.). Two Republicans voted “present,” and six didn’t vote.

Most of the Republicans who voted for the contraception protections are already facing widespread opposition from fellow party members. Cheney and Kinzinger are obvious examples; others include Mace and Gonzalez, the latter of whom is retiring. Mace, who’s criticized Trump in connection to the Capitol riot, was called a “grandstanding loser” by the former president.

“It is outrageous that nearly 60 years after Griswold was decided, women must once again fight for fundamental freedom to determine the size and timing of their families… But as Republicans turn back the clock on contraception, Democrats today are making it clear: We are not going back,” House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday. Griswold is the contraception-related case Thomas said should be re-examined. Thomas also called for a re-examination of past cases in which the Supreme Court laid out rights to same-sex relationships and marriages — and this week, the House also subsequently passed a bill to put protections for same-sex marriages into federal law and formally repeal a past bill that defined marriage to exclude same-sex couples and remained technically still on the books, though it’s obviously gone un-enforced. Almost four dozen House Republicans voted for the bill supporting same-sex marriages — although with over 210 Republicans in the House, a lot of them didn’t do so.

One of the Republican arguments against the bill protecting contraception was that it was essentially unnecessary, which is simply ridiculous. The legislation would directly respond to a threat outlined by a U.S. Supreme Court Justice — it’s not based in imagination, like the essentially pointlessly suppressive election reform bills pushed and enacted by Republicans around the U.S. There’s never been any real-world evidence of current, systematic problems with election integrity in the United States — and yet, there’s been a tidal wave of attempts by Republicans to enact restrictive new measures around the electoral process anyway. It’s unclear at this point whether the bills protecting contraception or same-sex marriages can pass the Senate, where the long-disputed filibuster rules remain in effect as Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) continue prioritizing upholding the rules above enacting substantive protections for threatened Americans.