GOP blocks Democrat bill to secure access to contraception saying it's a 'false scare tactic' ahead of the election

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Senate Republicans blocked a Democrat-led push to codify Americans' right to contraception.

It's a pre-election effort to expand reproductive rights and further brand Republicans as the party against women's health.

The bill would have ensured that Americans have a federal right to condoms, birth control pills and patches, intrauterine devices (IUDs) and sterilization procedures like vasectomies.

But Republicans say it's just a false 'scare tactic' to try and rally voters against the GOP - who are actually also supportive of contraception. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer conducted a test vote on the 'Right to Contraception Act' on Wednesday afternoon, but it failed to get enough support to overcome the 60-vote threshold needed to move forward.

Hannah Tuohy and Meghan Ravi, both with Americans for Contraception, take a selfie in front of an Inflatable contraceptive implant Intra Uterine Device (IUD) on Capitol Hill ahead of a Senate vote on the 'Right to Contraception Act', Washington, U.S., June 5, 2024

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., the youngest in the chamber who represents one of the most conservative states in the county, slammed Right to Contraception Act as an election year 'scare tactic.'  

'I want to be absolutely, 100 percent clear, that I support continued nationwide access to contraception,' she said on the Senate floor Tuesday. 'But that’s not the purpose of the bill my colleagues across the aisle are bringing to the floor.'

Schumer's move comes as Democrats continue to try and signal that they are the pro-choice party in the wake of the Supreme Court's June 2022 decision to strike down the federal right to abortion. 

Schumer said this week that he wishes to 'put reproductive freedoms front and center before this chamber, so that the American people can see for themselves who will stand up to defend their fundamental liberties.'

Democrats are also expected to hold another vote on the federal right to in vitro fertilization (IVF) later this month to continue their quest in marketing themselves as the pro-health party.

It is unlikely that a full vote on either measure will pass through the Senate with the required 60 votes as nearly all Republicans are against it.

And the Republican-held House would likely never choose to move on the reproductive bills even if they passed the upper chamber. 

GOP senators have loudly pushed back on the contraception bill, calling Schumer's plan 'stunt legislation.'

Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said this week he wants to 'put reproductive freedoms front and center before this chamber' so Americans can see who does and does not back a federal bill codifying Americans' right to contraception

Schumer held a press conference on the contraception bill Wednesday ahead of the vote

'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,' a coalition of 22 GOP senators wrote in a letter led by Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Rick Scott of Florida.

'This bill 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.' 

The vote is similar to another held at the end of May on an immigration and border security measure. 

That bill, which failed in the upper chamber in February, was brought back up again by Schumer, Republicans say, to signal that Democrats are in favor of border security. 

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., speaks alongside fellow Democrats including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., during a press conference supporting the Right to Contraception Act

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is preempting Democrats' attacks on IVF by releasing an ad claiming he 'will always protect' it

Unsurprisingly, the bill failed again. But it does allow Democrats, particularly ones in vulnerable seats, to tell their constituents that they tried twice to get border reform through, but were stopped by Republicans. 

Schumer is widely expected to bring more messaging bills to the floor for votes later this summer, including the IVF measure. 

Sen. Scott, preempting the Democrats' next messaging bill, recently put out an ad toting how he is in favor of IVF, and that his daughter has undergone the treatment.

'This grandpa will always protect IVF, you can count on that,' he says.