Democrats in the US Senate did not get enough votes on Wednesday to pass a bill intended to protect abortion at the federal levela right that the Supreme Court seems destined to eliminate in the coming weeks.
The initiative was shipwrecked in a key vote, since the Democrats did not get the 60 supports necessary for it to begin being debated in the Senate.
With US Vice President Kamala Harris presiding over the session, the 50 Republicans voted en bloc against, while Democrats one by one voted in favor while they shouted: "ouch!" (Yes).
The only Democrat who broke ranks with his party was Joe Manchin, the last to vote and who left the scoreboard at 49 votes in favor and 51 against.
The vote took place in a climate of high tension after last week the Politico media published a draft US Supreme Court ruling that points to the revocation of the right to abortion that this court enshrined in the historic sentence "Roe vs. Wade" in 1973.
The leak put Democrats on the defensivesince the repeal of "Roe vs. Wade" it would allow Republicans to restrict and even eliminate that right by passing laws in state parliaments.
"Today’s vote is one of the most important we will hold in decades"affirmed before the vote the leader of the Democrats in the Upper House, Chuck Schumer.
Schumer had promoted the vote with the aim of forcing senators to take a public position despite the fact that it had little chance of succeeding.
At the moment, the Senate is split down the middle with 50 seats for the Republicans and 50 for the Democrats, who hold the majority thanks to the tie-breaking vote Harris, who acts as president of the chamber.
Schumer insisted that there will be consequences "real" and "immediate" If the Supreme Court annuls "Roe vs. Wade".
Specifically, if the Supreme Court strikes down abortion protection, 26 of the 50 US states will take steps to restrict it.
That would mean that approximately half of the women of reproductive age in the United States, some 36 million, would be left without access to that service in the territory where they live, according to calculations by Planned Parenthood, the largest network of reproductive health clinics in the United States. .