WASHINGTON, D.C. —  The Women’s Health Protection Act passed the House last week and headed to consideration in the Senate, marking the first time in history that lawmakers passed legislation designed to protect the right to abortion access. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, vowed to bring the bill to a vote “soon,” although it’s almost sure to fail.

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, introduced her pro-choice bill in previous legislative cycles but this is the first time House Democrats moved to vote on it.

What You Need To Know

  • The Women’s Health Protection Act marked the first time in history that the House passed legislation designed to protect the right to abortion access

  • Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, introduced her pro-choice bill in previous legislative cycles but this is the first time House Democrats moved to vote on it

  • Though the bill successfully passed the House, Chu still has concerns moving forward

  • Now the WHPA’s fate lies in the Senate, where Democrats would need at least 10 Republicans to overcome the filibuster

“It was a very, very important moment for the women of America,” Chu said.

Though the bill successfully passed the House, Chu still has concerns moving forward. She pointed to how Texas recently passed an anti-abortion law, prohibiting the procedure after a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around the sixth week of pregnancy. Because the Supreme Court decided not to block that law, despite Roe v. Wade, Chu is worried more states will follow suit.

“Florida actually has already introduced a copycat bill in their legislature,” Chu said. “I’m reading about these Texas women who now are fleeing over to Louisiana and Oklahoma and any other states where they can get an abortion, so it's already causing havoc and causing great difficulty in the lives of women.”

Republicans said Chu’s bill could lead to abortions at every stage of pregnancy.

“The science is even more clear than it was in 1973,” Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Indiana, said. “A child in the womb is a living person. And yet, my colleagues on the other side remain obsessed with killing unborn babies in the name of ‘female empowerment.’”

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Now the WHPA’s fate lies in the Senate, where Democrats would need at least 10 Republicans to overcome the filibuster.

“I very much hope that we can get rid of the filibuster. I think that it is tyranny of the minority,” Chu said.

Although this bill is unlikely to pass the Senate, the House vote does allow Democrats to make their stance clear for 2022, for an issue that could play a key role in which party controls Congress.

An AP/NORC poll conducted in June shows the majority of U.S. adults, or more than 60%, believe abortion should be legal during the first trimester, which is the first 12 weeks. The percentages drop after the first trimester.