US Senate to vote on abortion rights bill

The US Senate will on Wednesday vote on a national abortion rights bill – a process likely doomed to fail – after a leaked draft decision signalled the Supreme Court’s readiness to overturn the 1973 Roe v Wade decision.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has called the draft ruling an “abomination,” said he has teed up the vote on codifying the right to abortion in America, which the conservative majority court appears poised to ban.

The prospects of success are virtually zero, given the blocking power of Republicans in an evenly divided 100seat Senate where key legislation almost always faces a 60-vote threshold.

But the vote will nonetheless put politicians on record regarding one of the country’s most divisive issues, and Democrats hope the debate will galvanise Americans to vote for them in the midterm elections in November.

“We will vote on Wednesday, and every American will see how every senator stands. They can’t duck it anymore,” Mr Schumer said.

“Now they have to show which side they’re on.”

Republican-controlled states have taken steps to restrict abortion rights in recent months, given that overturning Roe v Wade would give states the ability to make their own laws on abortion.

Top congressional Democrat Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, reiterated her outrage about the court’s upcoming likely decision, saying: “The court has slapped women in the face in terms of disrespect for their judgments about the size and timing of their families.”