Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski broke from fellow Republicans this week when she voted to advance a Democratic proposal to enshrine federal protections for birth control and other contraceptives.
The legislation comes as Democrats seek to make abortion and contraceptive care a critical election-year issue, warning that the Dobbs decision overturning the right to an abortion was just the start for the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court. They point to a concurring opinion from Justice Clarence Thomas that suggested cases ensuring that married and unmarried Americans have the right to decide their use of contraceptives should be revisited.
“Contraception has been safely used by millions of women for decades,” said U.S. Sen Jacky Rosen, D-Nevada, during the debate. “It’s allowed women to take control over their own bodies — to decide when they want to start a family, how many kids they have, who they want to start a family with. For these very same reasons, the right to contraception has been a target of anti-choice extremists for years.”
The measure, however, failed to advance past a procedural vote that required 60 votes, failing 51-39 with Murkowski and Maine Sen. Susan Collins, another Republican, joining Democrats to advance the measure.
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan missed the vote. His press office didn’t return a request for comment.
In a hearing earlier this week on the impacts of the Dobbs decision on healthcare access, Murkowski reiterated her position on abortion and contraceptive access. She said she believes women have the right to access the procedure but said there can be limits.
“The choice to have an abortion should ultimately be in the hands of the woman, of the individual, not the government, but I also believe it’s reasonable to not require those who are firmly opposed to abortion to support it with their tax dollars and providers who do not wish to be involved with abortion should not be forced to do so,” she said, highlighting another bill that would provide carve-outs for religious and moral objections.
She went on to note at the hearing that despite Alaska’s constitutional right to privacy, which covers the right to health care decisions and abortion access, Alaskans have been impacted negatively by the Dobbs decision. She noted that the Planned Parenthood clinic in Soldotna closed in the wake of the health providers’ reorganization as it was responding to trigger laws across the country that effectively outlawed abortion.
“I will tell you I continue to hear from so many people in my state, women in Alaska, who are concerned about access to abortion and access to reproductive services even while we are a state where we have included in our state’s constitution a right to privacy that protects that access,” she said. “What we have seen from decisions across the country in the Lower 48 is a ripple effect that has come all the way up to the north … There are implications that move beyond those state boundaries.”
During that hearing, Murkowski asked the testifiers what could be done to improve and ensure health care access to Alaskans and other Americans living in rural and remote areas that don’t have easy access to the remaining clinics.
“One of the things we can do is ensure that we can maintain access to medication abortion. Medication abortion now accounts for two-thirds of all abortions in this country, and in rural areas, it’s incredibly important to have that option via telehealth for folks who can’t reach a provider when they live in communities that don’t have providers,” said Destiny Lopez, the acting co-CEO of the Guttmacher Institute. “Maintaining access to something we know is safe and effective based on decades of widespread use is incredibly important.”
Murkowski said she agreed.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.