Collins expected to oppose Democrats’ bill protecting abortion rights, citing concerns over scope

Collins voted in support of both Neil Gorsuch’s and Kavanaugh’s confirmations and has previously said Kavanaugh told her he agreed that Roe v. Wade is settled law. The senator said on Tuesday that the draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade was “completely inconsistent” with what Gorsuch and Kavanaugh “said in their hearings and in our meetings in my office.” She did not go so far as to say, though, that she had been misled by Kavanaugh. When asked that question by CNN, she said, “My statement speaks for itself.”

Collins voted against a previous version of the Women’s Health Protection Act in February for similar reasons. The bill she has put forward with Murkowski is narrower, which Democrats such as Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, an author of the Women’s Health Protection Act, have criticized as having “loopholes” for states to continue restricting abortion.

Blumenthal on Thursday pushed back on Collins’ reasoning about the Democrats’ bill. “There is nothing in this measure that detracts in any way from existing protections based on conscience or religion,” he said. “It doesn’t mandate that a hospital or a doctor or any other provider do anything that is against religious principles or conscience.”

The court confirmed the authenticity of the document Tuesday, though it also stressed it was not the final decision.

The problem for Democrats is that they do not have the votes to pass their measure — yet another limitation of their narrow majority in the Senate. The legislation would need at least 60 votes to overcome a GOP filibuster, which would require 10 Republicans to vote with Democrats if all Democrats voted in favor. That is not expected to happen.

Adding to the trouble for Democrats is that their own caucus is not even unified on the issue. Sen. Joe Manchin, a key moderate Democrat who represents the red state of West Virginia, has previously described himself as “pro-life and proud of it” and “a lifelong abortion opponent.” And Manchin and Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania have broken with their party on abortion-related votes in the Senate before.