The Los Angeles Post

Senator blocks protecting interstate abortion travel

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GOP Sen. James Lankford (Okla.) on Thursday blocked a Democratic request to unanimously pass a bill seeking to protect interstate travel for abortion.

  • Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), joined by a string of Democratic senators, had sought consent to pass a bill that would prevent states from punishing women who travel to other states where abortion is legal to get the procedure.
  • The measure would also protect health care providers who provide abortions to out-of-state patients.

“Does that child in the womb have the right to travel in their future?” Lankford said in objecting. “Do they get to live?”

 

“There’s a child in this conversation as well,” he added.

 

Big picture: With full-scale legislation to codify Roe v. Wade lacking the votes to pass the upper chamber, Democrats have looked for other legislative responses after the Supreme Court struck down the nearly 50-year decision that established a constitutional right to abortion.

 

Unanimous consent requests can get GOP senators on record blocking measures.

A series of Democratic senators had spoken in favor of the measure before the request Thursday.

 

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) said that “if people from other states need to come to Colorado to access the care they need, Congress has the obligation to shield them from prosecution.”