Eight House Republicans Vote to Protect Contraceptive Access

Eight House Republicans broke with their party on Thursday to support a bill intended to protect access to contraceptives, The Hill reports.

The House passed the Right to Contraception Act by a vote of 228-195. All Democrats voted in favor of the bill, while six Republicans abstained, and two, Reps. Bob Gibbs of Ohio and Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, voted present.

The eight Republicans to support the bill were Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Fred Upton of Michigan, John Katko of New York, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio and Nancy Mace of South Carolina.

A Gibbs spokesperson told The Hill that the legislator "wasn't going to play Democrats' BS games trying to create fake outrage," and asserted that since Democrats chose to support their bill over a GOP version, they "don't want solutions or bipartisanship, they want the campaign issue."

Mace said in a statement: "My state is banning almost all [abortion] exceptions for women including rape & incest victims. Today I voted to protect access to contraceptives — to protect every woman in South Carolina. You can't ban abortion and then not protect women's access to contraceptives."

The legislation comes about one month after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas suggested that the court ought to reverse precedent that protects access to certain methods of birth control.

• House Passes Bill to Protect Access to Contraception
• House Plans Vote on Contraception Bill Thursday