Photo by David Knox
On June 5th, a bill to protect Americans’ access to birth control was thwarted by Senate Republicans. Democrats unanimously supported the bill with two Republicans, Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), crossing party lines to back the legislation. However, the vote failed 51 to 39, short of the 60 votes needed for the bill to pass.
Democrats have been working to frame the 2024 election as a battle for reproductive rights. The staunch Republican opposition to the vote gave Democrats an opening to criticize those who voted against the bill. After the failed vote, President Biden took to X, formally known as Twitter, to restate his and Vice President Harris’s stance on reproductive freedom: “@VP and I believe that women in every state must have the freedom to make deeply personal health care decisions. We’ll continue to fight to protect access to reproductive health care and we urge Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law.”
A large majority of Americans support access to contraception, with a 2024 poll stating that 79% percent of Americans think that contraception is very or somewhat good for society. As the 2024 election draws nearer, issues of reproductive justice continue to be brought to the forefront of politics and politicians’ stances on these issues are as fundamental as ever. The widespread support for forms of contraception points to the importance of advancing reproductive rights across the nation.
