The Senate fails to advance a bill to provide national abortion access.

In a show vote aimed to draw harsh partisan lines ahead of the November elections, a Democratic-led bill to ensure abortion access statewide failed to move in the Senate on Wednesday. The voting on the Women’s Health Protection Act was presided over by Vice President Kamala Harris. It required 60 votes to progress, but it perished in a 51-49 vote, with West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin voting nay along with all Republicans.

President Biden promptly chastised Republicans for obstructing abortion rights legislation at a time when “women’s fundamental rights are being attacked in unprecedented ways.” He urged people to elect more Democrats in November so that the law might be approved the following year.

“Republicans in Congress – not a single one of whom voted for this law – have chosen to obstruct Americans’ right to make the most personal decisions about their own bodies, families, and lives,” Biden said in a statement. “To defend the freedom to choose, Americans must elect more pro-choice senators and return a pro-choice majority to the House this November.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., pressed for a vote on the bill after a leaked Supreme Court ruling indicated the court might overturn the historic 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion statewide. He described the proposal as “vital” in order to prevent states from implementing severe anti-abortion laws that “would take women’s rights back into the Stone Age.”

Manchin, a pro-life Democrat, said the bill goes well beyond just codifying the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling by repealing state rules, such as bans on abortion before 24 weeks. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a critical holdout vote on President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda, heads a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. “Make no mistake, that is not the codification of Roe v. Wade,” Manchin stated. “It is a growth.”

Even two pro-choice Republican senators, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, and Maine’s Susan Collins opposed the bill as going too far by undermining state abortion restrictions, such as gender-based abortion bans. They desired tighter legislation that would codify the legal right to abortion while maintaining certain state controls authorized by Roe v. Wade.

Democrats, on the other hand, presented the discussion as an opportunity for senators to indicate where they stand on women’s rights, warning that if abortion rights are pushed back and women are forced to stay pregnant, many people would suffer. “Let’s be clear: repealing Roe will not put an end to abortions. It would simply prevent women from having safe abortions, and women will die as a result “said Nevada Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., stated that if Roe v. Wade is reversed, trigger laws currently in place in at least 13 states will instantly restrict abortion availability.

“This country’s citizens do not want to go backward,” Klobuchar stated.

Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, referred to the suffragette and civil rights campaigns. Those who vote against the Women’s Health Protection Act, he claims, are obstructing equality.

“It’s a vote against women, period,” Leahy remarked.

The House had passed a version of the bill in September. Rep. Henry Cuellar, R-Texas, was the lone Democrat who voted against the bill. Cuellar and Manchin are the only two Democrats in Congress who are consistently pro-life.