WASHINGTON — Democrats on Capitol Hill were spitting fire Tuesday in the wake of the leak of a Supreme Court draft ruling overturning abortion rights, but acknowledged their hands are tied unless voters deliver them a strong majority in Congress this fall.
“It is hard not to feel angry, troubled and deeply disturbed about what overturning Roe would do to women across America,” said Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., surrounded by Senate Democrats on the steps of the Capitol, staring down the Supreme Court building. “The decision would be an abomination, an abomination — one of the worst ever in modern history.”
The draft decision to undo 50 years of abortion rights and the unprecedented leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion decision rattled Capitol Hill. But it did nothing to immediately alter abortion politics in the closely divided Senate, which is narrowly controlled by Democrats. There are not enough senators who support abortion rights to overcome a filibuster or, as of now, to create a 51-vote majority.
