Interstate travel abortion bill by Cortez Masto blocked in Senate

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s bill to protect interstate travel by women seeking an abortion was blocked Thursday by a Republican senator who cited the need to protect the rights of the unborn.

U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., objected to a voice vote to pass the “Freedom to Travel for Healthcare Act” that would allow the Justice Department to file civil cases against states or institutions that prohibit women from crossing state lines for an abortion.

Just 20 days after the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said 18 states have banned abortions and Republicans in Congress are working on legislation to ban abortions nationwide.

Cortez Masto said lawmakers in anti-abortion states are drafting bills to punish women who seek an abortion in states that allow the procedure and those who provide it.

“They want to stop women from traveling for critical care and to punish people who support these women,” Cortez Masto said in a Senate floor speech before she called for a vote on her bill.

Lankford objected. He praised the Supreme Court decision to uphold the rights of the unborn and accused Democrats of using the issue to “inflame” voters in an election year.

No state has thus far banned interstate travel for a woman seeking an abortion, Lankford said.

He added that the discussion should include concern for the unborn: “Does that child in the womb have the right to travel in their future?”

State lawmakers in Missouri and Texas are drafting bills that would punish abortion providers and companies that have publicly announced they would help employees in those states seek medical procedures elsewhere.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, said her state is requiring a proof of residency for an abortion.

Interstate prosecutions

Cortez Masto said those “fear tactics” in anti-abortion states were creating a chilling effect in Nevada, where the right to an abortion was protected after a 1990 referendum.

She said providers and health care officials in Nevada were concerned they could be prosecuted under laws passed in other states.

During an hour long debate in the Senate, Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., claimed Cortez Masto’s legislation would create a “fly-in, abortion on demand” industry.

That claim drew a rebuke from Cortez Masto, who noted that medical and health care officials in Nevada have long been established and qualified to provide reproductive care.

Democratic senators from the 16 states that have codified the right to an abortion were outraged that the Cortez Masto bill even had to be considered. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade would deny his daughters a right that women in the United States have had for half a century.

“This is radical,” Bennet said, criticizing the court’s June 24 ruling.

After Lankford blocked the vote, President Joe Biden, who is traveling abroad, tweeted that he had outlined how he would use executive action to protect women traveling across state borders for health care.

“Today, Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would make that right a law,” Biden tweeted.

McConnell: Activist ruling overturned

Earlier, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the Supreme Court ruling to overturn the 1973 landmark abortion case correctly returned to the states the authority to determine abortion law.

He said the Roe v. Wade ruling was the result of an activist Supreme Court.

McConnell denounced Democrats for failing to accept last month’s ruling by a conservative Supreme Court.

But U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said Republican arguments about states’ rights were dodging the public outrage over the decision to strip away a constitutional right for women.

“Republicans will do everything they can to change the subject,” Murray said.

The issue of abortion rights has emerged as a partisan issue heading into the midterm elections, which will decide control of the House and Senate.

Cortez Masto, a top Republican target, has made abortion rights a major campaign issue. She introduced the interstate travel bill Monday with Democratic co-sponsors, who see the recent Supreme Court ruling as out of step with mainstream voters.

Republicans have focused on the economy and rising inflation, while mostly supporting the Supreme Court decision.

Partisan differences

Adam Laxalt, a former Nevada attorney general and the Republican candidate challenging Cortez Masto for her seat, has praised the Supreme Court action, citing the decision to hand back to the states the authority to determine laws over abortion rights.

Laxalt called the Supreme Court decision a victory for the sanctity of life and a return of the responsibility of authority to the American people and their elected representatives.

Although Senate Republicans blocked the Cortez Masto legislation from receiving a vote, it could be brought up at a later date.

Two Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, support abortion rights, but they did not sign as co-sponsors to the Cortez Masto bill.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin @reviewjournal.com. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.