The Republican Party is cautioning against a bill that would threaten parental rights to “score cheap political points.”
On Wednesday, Senate Democrats introduced a bill designed to “protect the right to contraception,” claiming that its access is under attack.
However, GOP lawmakers argue that the Right to Contraception Act would "infringe 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.”
Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Rick Scott (R-FL) joined 20 Republican colleagues in a joint statement, pushing against the Democrat’s radical legislation. Their letter states that it promotes fearmongering and “misleads the public on the accessibility of contraception and threatens the religious freedoms and parental rights of millions of Americans.”
Ahead of the vote, Democrat Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that the decision to protect “access to birth control would be the definition of an easy, uncontroversial decision here in the Senate,” adding that the bill is not “a show vote,” but rather “a show-us-who-you-are vote.”
House Democrat Katherine Clark (D-MA) accused Republicans of being “anti-freedom extremism” while defending the legislation.
“Republicans have a choice to make: they can put aside their MAGA ideology and join us (to) get this bill passed or they can triple down on their anti-freedom extremism in full view of the American people,” Clark said.
The co-signers include Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Mike Lee (R-UT), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Katie Britt (R-Ala), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), and Steve Daines (R-Mont.).
The bill is expected not to meet the required 60 necessary votes to move forward.