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By Natalie Venegas
Weekend Reporter
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Ahead of a critical vote on the Right to Contraception Act, a giant 20-foot intrauterine device (IUD) on Wednesday was displayed in Washington, D.C.
Following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, concerns have escalated regarding the security of other reproductive rights, including access to contraception. The Right to Contraception Act, introduced the same year, aimed to enshrine into federal law the right to obtain and use contraceptives, ensuring individuals could access various forms of birth control, such as pills, patches, impacts, condoms, IUDs and sterilization procedures.
On Wednesday, ahead of the Senate's vote on the legislation, Americans for Contraception (AFC), a movement across the country pushing to protect women's rights, unveiled a 20-foot inflatable IUD outside Union Station in D.C. The contraceptive is a T-shaped piece of plastic around the size of a quarter, inserted into the uterus to provide birth control.
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Senate Republicans blocked the bill in a 51-39 vote, arguing it was unnecessary and overly broad. It needed 60 votes to defeat a filibuster and move forward in the chambers. Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine voted with Democrats in support of the bill. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York also switched his vote to "no" in an effort to bring up the bill again at a later date.
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Since the inflatable IUD was displayed, some have taken to X, formerly Twitter, to advocate for the bill.
Planned Parenthood Action on X shared the display and pointed out the importance of the legislation by quoting Schumer. "Yes, this is a 20-foot IUD in front of D.C.'s Union Station. Today, the Senate is voting on the Right to Contraception Act and let us be clear — "This is not a show vote, it's a show us who you are vote."-@SenSchumer."
Newsweek has reached out to the group via email for comment on Wednesday.
Laura Packard, founder of Health Care Voices, shared a photo of the IUD to X and wrote, "The Senate votes today on the Right to Contraception Act. Will Republicans side with the American people and vote for birth control, or not?"
On the Senate floor this week, Republican Senator Katie Britt of Alabama condemned the Democrats' legislation efforts as "summer of scare tactics."
"This is continuing the campaign of fear-mongering we've already seen. Contraception is available in every state across the nation. The goal of my Democratic colleagues right now is to scare the American people, to scare women across our great nation. It's not that they believe that there's a problem they're truly trying to solve. They're prioritizing their own short-term partisan political interest," Britt said.
Newsweek also reached out to Britt via email for comment on Wednesday.
Schumer warned earlier this week of Republican efforts in some states to block access to contraception, saying it was "all the more reason to move to protect contraception at the federal level."
"To those who think that federal action protecting access to birth control is unnecessary, just look at what's happening in states like Virginia and Nevada and Arizona, where Republicans are openly blocking these very protections. I would hope that protecting access to birth control would be the definition of an easy, uncontroversial decision here in the Senate. But the vote will tell all," Schumer said.
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