A GOP-led abortion bill failed in the Senate due to Democratic opposition on Wednesday, a sign of where the party is drawing the line on bipartisan cooperation.
After a week marked by Senate Democrats’ willingness to work with their Republican counterparts on both an immigration bill and confirming former Sen. Marco Rubio as secretary of State, every Democrat voted against legislation that would “prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer had come out against the bill ahead of the vote, and other Democrats who opposed it say the law already requires doctors to give children appropriate medical care.
“This proposed law plays on misinformation and misunderstanding,” Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said at a press conference prior to the vote. “But like all anti-abortion bills, it is designed to take away the rights of patients and doctors.”
