“It’s just disappointing that we’ll be voting on a bill I will not support today,” Manchin said.
“It’s not Roe v. Wade codification,” Manchin stated of the Women’s Health Protection Act passed by Democrats. “It’s an expansion,” he added. He also said that if the bill simply replicated the 1973 Supreme Court decision establishing a woman’s right to abortion, he would have voted for it.
Manchin said he’d been “pro-life all of his life,” despite the fact that he believes there are some circumstances when abortion should be permitted, according to Business Insider.
“We should not be ripping this nation further apart,” he added. “We’re already split.”
When Manchin stated that he would vote against the bill, it triggered an online fury among Democrats and other pro-choice advocates who believe that women should be allowed to murder their children in their wombs.
“COVID is kind of like Joe Manchin. Every time we have a glimmer of hope, it all goes down,” tweeted Democratic strategist Jack Cocchiarella earlier this week.
“Manchin has a houseboat. Boats sink all the time,” one user tweeted.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) stabbed his party in the back and will oppose a bill to codify Roe v. Wade and protect abortion rights, according to progressive organization Occupy Democrats. “Sen. Joe Manchin stabs democrats in the back,” the group tweeted, urging for him to be primaried.
The bill, as expected, failed to pass. The bill did not even obtain a bare majority of votes, much less the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster. Manchin voted against the legislation, as did 51 senators, while 49 voted in favor of it.
Before the vote, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer suggested that his party knew the bill would likely fail. He added, however, that they were aware of its potential to serve as a show-vote for the Democrats.
“We’re making sure that each senator will have to cast a vote, and that every American will be able to witness how they voted,” Sen. Schumer said this week on MSNBC. “Electorally, when the American people see it, the MAGA Republican Party will pay the price.”
The stated goal of the bill was to codify Roe v. Wade, which is what Democrats intended given a leaked Supreme Court draft majority opinion calling for such a repeal.
However, the bill would not have just maintained the status quo; it would also have expanded abortion even more by outlawing several pro-life protections, according to The Associated Press