ROE’S LAST ANNIVERSARY?— It’s Roe v. Wade’s 49th anniversary, and abortion rights advocates are marking it by sounding the alarm — warning Democrats at the state and federal level aren’t doing enough to respond to the biggest emergency for abortion rights in half a century. Nearly half of states are expected to ban abortion should the Supreme Court overturn Roe later this year. Many red states are already pushing forward new restrictions. Yet progressive leaders say the Democratic Party is not putting up enough of a defense, POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reports. A lopsided fight: Republicans control more than half the country’s governorships and nearly two-thirds of state legislatures. But even in blue states, abortion rights advocates say officials haven’t always made it a priority to shore up abortion — or ensured that voters know Roe’s demise would affect them as well. “People look at Texas and Mississippi and think: ‘I’m sitting pretty in my blue state. That’s their problem,’” said Kristin Ford, the vice president of communications and research at NARAL Pro-Choice America. “But when you have a wave of people coming across state lines, that’s going to strain the health care system in your state. Our fates are intertwined.” Conservatives on the march: Thousands are gathering on the National Mall today for the anti-abortion March for Life ahead of an anticipated ruling against Roe in June. Anti-abortion groups are expected to use the event to tout the state bans on the procedure they’re pursuing. WHP-lash: Federal intervention is likely not forthcoming. The Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill that would block states from imposing new abortion restrictions, has languished in the Senate for months, lacking the votes to move forward. More than 225 advocacy organizations including Planned Parenthood signed an open letter to the Senate today calling for action on the bill. And even though Majority Leader Chuck Schumer promised in October that the chamber would vote on it “soon,” a vote has yet to be scheduled. SENATE DEMS LICK THEIR WOUNDS — In a single week, Senate Democrats suffered two big setbacks: failing to pass a sweeping voting rights bill and effectively giving up on their $1.7 trillion social spending package. They’re not eager for a third any time soon, POLITICO’s Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine report. Democrats are instead likely to pivot toward more bipartisan priorities, putting their partisan spending bill on the back burner while lawmakers try to figure out a new path forward. When the Senate returns from a weeklong recess, it’s expected to more immediately take up efforts to fund the government and tackle antitrust reform — areas that have plenty of cross-aisle support. “We’ve been negotiating with two senators for two months, and it has gotten us nowhere, so we need a new course of action,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said. That means it could take many more weeks for progress on the health provisions included in the Build Back Better bill. Both President Joe Biden and Democrats on the Hill concede the package will need to be scaled back significantly to win enough support. But Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) — one of the key holdouts — has already indicated he wants the party to start all over again and rebuild the bill piece by piece. “What Build Back Better?,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said of the bill’s fate. “At this point, Sen. Manchin needs to sit down and get clarity about what’s got 50 votes.” SCOTUS DEALS ANOTHER BLOW TO TX ABORTION BAN CHALLENGE — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a plea from Texas abortion clinics to send what remains of their challenge back to the federal district court that previously blocked the state’s six-week ban, POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reports. Earlier this week, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decided to hand the case over to the Texas Supreme Court for further interpretation, effectively prolonging enforcement of a law that’s halted most abortions in the state since September. That meant the clinics’ last hope for getting the case back to a more favorable venue rested with the U.S. Supreme Court. But the justices dashed it Thursday in a 6-3 ruling that fell along ideological lines. The high court had previously closed off most of the clinics’ avenues for challenging the law, which empowers private citizens to sue anyone suspected of performing an abortion or helping someone obtain one. In a dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that Texas’ law has “devastated access to abortion care … through a complicated private bounty-hunter scheme that violates nearly 50 years of this Court’s precedents.” She argued that, by not intervening, the court’s majority aided “egregious violations of [Texans’] constitutional rights.” | 
