A Senate hearing Tuesday about state-level abortion bans following the overturning of Roe v. Wade erupted into a highly partisan discussion that highlighted the fault lines on the controversy ahead of the 2024 election.
Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) called the hearing with the goal, according to Murray, of examining “the trauma that Republicans are inflicting on women and families across our country and the damage they are doing to basic reproductive healthcare through their anti-abortion crusade.”
“To every Republican who hopes this issue will go away or is hoping the post-Dobbs reality will become status quo, listen: You never forget, and you never just get used to someone else taking control of your body, your medical decisions, your plans for your family, or your future,” Murray said. “You never forget a politician rescinding your right to make decisions about something as personal as your own pregnancy.”
The discussion was not limited to cases of extreme pregnancy complications, such as ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage, but also individual cases in which women wished to obtain a voluntary abortion.
Murray, who Sanders let lead the hearing because it was “appropriate for a woman to chair,” referenced the 2024 presidential election and highlighted that former President Donald Trump has taken credit for the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision after appointing three of the justices who voted with the majority.
“Democrats have been clear,” Murray said in the context of the 2024 election. “With a pro-choice majority in the House and Senate, and Joe Biden in the White House, we will restore and protect abortion rights for every woman in America.”
Ranking member Bill Cassidy (R-LA) highlighted the electoral implications of a high-profile hearing called for a serious discussion about gestational age limits for abortion.
“This is an election year in which a Democrat incumbent president is running behind,” Cassidy said. “This is partisan politics being played out in this committee hearing.”
Referencing his experience as a physician, Cassidy presented a poster of fetal ultrasounds in the womb of development between 10 to 41 weeks gestation.
“You have to take care of that mama, but you have to recognize that there is another life there as well,” Cassidy said. “This is not just a clump of cells.”
Cassidy also noted that, at the state level, there is diversity in the Democratic Party on abortion, as Louisiana’s anti-abortion statute was drafted by a Democrat and signed into law by a Democratic governor.
The ranking member also challenged his colleagues to take a serious look at gestational age limits for the national debate on abortion policy.
“At what point do my Democratic colleagues believe this is a child that deserves to live?” Cassidy said.
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There are nine states, as well as the District of Columbia, that allow for abortion on demand until birth.
Several states with abortion restrictions or prohibitions have also taken steps to clarify their laws to make sure physicians are able to take care of pregnant patients experiencing severe complications before symptoms become too severe.