Statement of Liz Seaton, Policy Director on the Senate’s Failure to Pass the Women’s Health Protection Act

February 28, 2022 - "Once again, the filibuster enables a minority of Senators to block what the people of this country need and want. Today conservative political extremists blocked passage of the Women's Health Protection Act by a vote of 48 to 46. The WHPA is federal legislation - passed by the House by a strong vote of 218 to 211 on September 24, 2021 - designed to guarantee access to abortion to people who need it.

Passage of the WHPA is vital to our communities, particularly in advance of an anticipated summer decision in the square-on Supreme Court challenge to the longstanding precedent of Roe v. Wade. Today's infuriating vote reflects intertwined racism, sexism and classism, for evidence shows that when abortion access is limited or abolished, the hardest impacts fall on Black and Brown women, poor women, rural women, and LGBTQ people. This vote reflects ongoing attacks the bodily autonomy of women and queer people, efforts that are profoundly wrong as well as unconstitutional.

To hold Senators accountable, we must Queer the Vote in the 2020 Midterms Elections."

Liz Seaton is Policy Director of the National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund.

The Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with the National LGBTQ Task Force. The Task Force Action Fund is the oldest grassroots LGBTQ network in America advancing LGBTQ liberation on both local and national landscapes to promote more vibrant and livable communities for LGBTQ people throughout the country. The Task Force Action Fund's goal is to enlist and mobilize citizen activists that will help ensure that LGBTQ inclusive public policies are adopted at the federal, state, and local levels.