WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — A bill to protect abortion rights was voted on Monday evening by the U.S. Senate in Washington D.C. The Women's Health Protection Act, or WHPA, prohibits government restrictions to abortion services.
The house of representatives passed the bill last fall.
The bill fell short Monday evening with a 46 to 48 vote. Sixty votes were needed.
"Maine is one of those states that I think has been very vigilant about protecting women's rights," Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said.
Pingree said the act is meant to ensure all states are in the same position, in regard to legal and available access to abortion services.
Pingree said the bill would ensure abortion stays legal and available in every state.
"It really codifies the protections that we've had since 1973, with Roe v. Wade, and with this [U.S.] Supreme Court, we just can't take any chances," Pingree said.
U.S. Susan Collins, a Republican, said she would be introducing her own new bill to codify reproductive rights laid out in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
Back in September, Texas banned abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy.
"After people saw what happened in Texas, and the fact that the supreme court would not take a review of that, it was a precursor to understanding what could happen state by state which is basically a women's right to have an abortion," Pingree said.
Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, also voted to pass the measure last fall.
Nicole Clegg is the senior vice president of public affairs at Planned Parenthood New England.
Clegg said if Roe v. Wade were to be overturned, Maine has laws in place that protect access to abortion.
"We also need to think about this in terms of the entire country, and if up to 26 states lose access to abortion care, those people are going to end up traveling far distances to places like Maine where they can get access to legal abortion," Clegg said.
The Mabel Wadsworth Center in Bangor is one of three places in Maine that provides in-clinic abortions. The other ones are Maine Family Planning in Augusta and Planned Parenthood of Northern New England in Portland.
Aspen Ruhlin is a client advocate at the Mabel Wadsworth Center.
"The future of abortion access that I look toward is one where people can access the care that they know they need without any barriers," Ruhlin said.
Ruhlin fears abortion access could become more limited across the country if legislation to protect abortion access doesn't pass.
Ruhlin said Maine's state lawmakers guaranteed legal abortion access in Maine by taking Roe v. Wade and codified it into law in 1993
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, co-sponsored the bill.
Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, introduced a bill into legislature Monday to codify the abortion rights established by Roe v. Wade. They filed the bill [titled the Reproductive Choice Act (RCA)] to codify Roe v. Wade and was filed as an amendment to the Women's Health Protection Act.
“I support the abortion rights established by Roe v. Wade and affirmed by Planned Parenthood v. Casey," Collins said. "Our legislation would enshrine these important protections into law without undercutting statutes that have been in place for decades and provide basic conscience protections that are relied upon by health care providers who have religious objections to performing abortions."
Murkowski shared similar sentiments.
“I have always supported a woman’s right to choose," she said. "The precedents established by Roe v. Wade, and the limitations the U.S. Supreme Court has placed on laws regarding abortion services.
“I have always supported a woman’s right to choose, the precedents established by Roe v. Wade, and the limitations the Supreme Court has placed on laws regarding abortion services," she said. "With the Supreme Court set to rule on an abortion-related case later this year, we should codify current protections into law so that women can be confident their reproductive freedoms will not be abruptly reduced or eliminated."
Click here to read the entire bill Collins and Murkowski introduced Monday.