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(LifeSiteNews) — A bipartisan group of senators proposed legislation Monday that would codify a federal right to pre-viability abortion while allowing for abortions up until birth to protect the “health” of the mother.
The “Reproductive Freedom For All Act” aims to enact “the essential holdings of Roe v. Wade and related cases, protecting abortion rights” as well as “contraception access,” according to a press release from U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, one of two Republicans who introduced the bill, including Susan Collins of Maine, along with Democrats Tim Kaine of Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
The bill would prohibit states from imposing abortion restrictions “before fetal viability,” although the legislation does not define viability, “leaving it to a patients’ health care provider to decide at which point ‘there is a realistic possibility of maintaining and nourishing a life outside the womb,’” Axios noted.
States would be permitted to restrict abortion after fetal viability except when abortion “is medically indicated to protect the life or health” of the mother. Such an exception has given rise to concerns that “mental health,” potentially very broadly defined, would result in permissive access to abortions.
“Pro-lifers warn that that’s a loophole big enough to drive a tank through … ” commented Hot Air blogger Allahpundit. “If a woman goes to Planned Parenthood in her third trimester and says she’s bummed out that she’s having a baby, is that enough of a ‘health’ concern (depression!) to justify an immediate termination?”
The legislation would also prevent states from banning contraception. Murkowski’s press release asserts that the “right” to access birth control could be called “into question” after the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
According to Axios, the bipartisan support “sets this effort apart” from the last attempt by Democrats to codify federal abortion “rights,” which followed the leak of the Supreme Court reversal of Roe. That effort failed in the Senate, where it was opposed by Murkowski, Collins, and others.
Axios has described the bill as “compromise legislation,” since it states that it preserves abortion “conscience protections,” which would typically include, for example, protection for doctors with conscience objections to abortion. However, the bill does not specify the kind of conscience protections it would entail.
Kaine has reportedly admitted the odds are unlikely the bill will pass, but according to Axios, he’s “holding out hope that the shock of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe will create room for compromise.”