WA Sen. Patty Murray: GOP pushing for ‘backdoor nationwide abortion ban’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Senate Democrats warn GOP budget bill threatens abortion access nationwide.
- Proposed legislation could defund Planned Parenthood and close rural hospitals.
- GOP efforts continue to pursue fetal personhood policies and restrict mifepristone.
Tuesday marked three years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that enshrined the federal constitutional right to abortion.
The ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization opened the door for GOP-controlled states to impose abortion bans within their borders. But during a solemn June 24 news conference, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray warned that Republicans are striving for a “backdoor nationwide abortion ban.”
A budget reconciliation bill backed by congressional Republicans would defund Planned Parenthood, threatening the existence of 200 health centers nationwide — 90% of which lie in states where abortion remains legal, Murray said.
President Donald Trump’s administration is also tilling the soil for a national law to recognize “fetal personhood,” dictating life starts at conception and prohibiting abortion in every state.
Dobbs, the case that effectively reversed Roe, wasn’t Republicans’ end goal, Murray said; the GOP has long sought to enact a national abortion ban.
“And since Republicans know they do not have the votes right now to pass a national abortion ban outright, they are slowly but surely advancing a backdoor nationwide abortion ban and chipping away at access to reproductive health piece by piece — even in states where abortion is protected,” Murray said.
U.S. Senate Democrats have been fighting the so-called One, Big Beautiful Bill Act beloved by Trump. Congress is poised for a final vote on the tax-and-spending package as soon as this week.
If successful, Murray says that the legislation — which she referred to as “Trump’s ‘Big Betrayal Bill’” — would cause 16 million people to lose their health care and shutter rural hospitals nationwide.
Trump has previously vowed that he wouldn’t sign a blanket federal abortion ban. Yet critics say that his administration and anti-abortion advocates are hoping to get a case before the U.S. Supreme Court so justices can hand down a ruling that life starts at conception.
The impacts of Dobbs, Trump’s new term
Nancy Davis, founder and executive director of the eponymous reproductive-justice advocacy foundation, said during Tuesday’s news conference at the U.S. Capitol that she was denied essential medical care in Louisiana because of that state’s ban. Weeks into her pregnancy, Davis learned that her baby had a rare, fatal condition, one that also was dangerous for her.
Davis said she had to travel nearly 1,500 miles to get the care she required — and that the ordeal left her with lasting emotional and physical scars.
“I experienced not only a denial of necessary medical care, but a denial of compassion and my right to make my own decision about my own health,” she said. “I felt dehumanized and stripped of my most fundamental rights. … The system failed me, and I’m just as outraged today as I was then.”
Murray, a senior member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, as well as its former chair, noted that Trump has pardoned people convicted of injuring and assaulting abortion clinic staff.
Mifepristone, a progesterone blocker that can end an early term pregnancy, could be at risk after a Trump appointee directed the Food and Drug Administration to review the safety of the abortion medication. The president also has rescinded Biden-era guidance that says hospitals in abortion-ban states can’t deny abortion care to pregnant women suffering from medical emergencies.
Washington state’s situation
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said despite the Supreme Court’s move three years ago, Washington state continues to safeguard reproductive freedom. On Tuesday, Washington joined more than 20 other states in urging the American Hospital Association to clarify that emergency abortion care is still required under federal law.
“Consistent with both federal and state law, hospitals providing emergency services in Washington state must offer pregnant patients experiencing emergencies the treatment that is consistent with the standard of care, including abortion care, or make an authorized transfer to a hospital that can provide such care,” Brown said in an emailed statement his office provided to McClatchy.
A spokesperson added that the state AG’s office is ready for possible scenarios where it would need to defend those rights in court if attacked by Trump and his administration.
Joining Murray on Tuesday were Democratic U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Tina Smith of Minnesota and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin. Warren said that since Roe was overturned, “we have seen a new form of hell visited on women all across this country,” including those who are “forced to carry doomed pregnancies for months.”
Shasti Conrad, chair of the Washington State Democratic Party, is also warning of a “backdoor” ban embedded in the federal budget bill jeopardizing reproductive-care coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
At the same time, Washington lawmakers have passed legislation to safeguard patients and providers from out-of-state probes, said Conrad, who was elected last week to serve as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. The state also has expanded abortion-medication access.
“But,” Conrad said in the WA Democrats email soliciting donations, “none of us are safe if the GOP’s plan becomes federal law.”
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