As Senate Vote Looms, Groups Call for Urgent Action to Stop GOP's 20-Week Abortion Ban

Reproductive rights groups denounced Senate Republicans on Monday as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell advanced a bill that would ban abortion care after 20 weeks, and called on the Senate to recognize repeated Supreme Court decisions affirming a woman’s right to have an abortion.

“This is yet another attempt to undermine women’s health and decision making that won’t stand up in a court of law, or in the court of public opinion,” said Nancy Northrup, head of the Center for Reproductive Rights, in a statement. “This bill is both unconscionable and unconstitutional. We urge the Senate to reject this legislation.”

On Twitter, NARAL Pro-Choice America called on supporters to demand that their senators vote against the bill as it advances to the Senate floor on Monday night.

Following the House’s passage of the so-called “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act” (H.R. 36) in October, the Senate is expected to hold a procedural vote on the bill on Monday.

If passed, the legislation would prohibit doctors from providing abortion care after 20 weeks, at the risk of up to five years in prison. The ban contains only narrow exceptions for victims of rape or incest, but forces women seeking abortions after surviving these crimes to file police reports and undergo a 48-hour waiting period before receiving care.