Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer released a statement over the weekend promising a vote on the Right to Contraception Act this Wednesday:

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced the chamber will vote on a bill to protect a person's ability to access contraceptives this Wednesday.

Why it matters: The vote on the Right to Contraception Act comes just ahead of the second anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court striking down federal abortion rights protections and as Democrats highlight the matter as a key 2024 election issue.

• Schumer wrote in a "Dear Colleague" letter released Sunday: "Democrats will be putting reproductive freedoms front and center."

Context: Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in concurring opinion overturning Roe v. Wade that the bench should reconsider "all of this Court's substantive due process precedents," including those guaranteeing birth control access and marriage equality.

What we're watching: Schumer wrote promised in the letter that there would be "more action" after next week's vote on the Right to Contraception Act, which is led by by Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii).

Here's the full press release from Schumer's office:

Dear Colleague,

This month, America will mark a dark and somber anniversary: June 24th will be two years since aradical MAGA majority on the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The Dobbs decision was one of the worst Supreme Court decisions of modern times. In one fell swoop, MAGA Justices gave us one of the most draconian reversals of individual liberty ever. Today, at least 20 states now have near-total bans or severe restrictions on abortion.

There’s no question in the American people’s minds that Republicans have brought our country tothis point. And as Donald Trump reminded us recently, he is “proudly the person responsible” for the annihilation of Roe v. Wade and grotesque reversal of women’s personal freedoms.

Democrats have been clear we will not stand for these attacks and we will fight to preservereproductive freedoms. That is why as we return from the Memorial Day state work period, Senate Democrats will be putting reproductive freedoms front and center. Before the break, I began the process for the Senate to consider the Right to Contraception Act, led by Senators Markey and Hirono. Members should expect to vote on that legislation on Wednesday this week. And there will be more action to come after that.

The hard-right MAGA Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade opened the floodgates forRepublicans to force their anti-reproductive freedom, anti-women agenda down the throats of all Americans. We’ve seen the dramatic and draconian consequences in state after state, with the Arizona Supreme Court going so far as to uphold a Civil War-era law banning abortion almost entirely, without exceptions for rape or for incest, even suggestion that doctors can be prosecuted for assisting in an abortion.

As horrific as these state abortion bans are, they’re just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to theconsequences of the Republican attacks on reproductive freedom. One of the most jarring examples of their extreme and dangerous agenda is the radical Alabama Supreme Court decision from earlier this year that jeopardizes access to IVF. Americans across the political spectrum were stunned at this cruel, callous, and outright chilling decision. In the wake of the Alabama decision, Senate Republicans had the chance to join our caucus in passing legislation to preserve IVF protections
under federal law, but they refused.

The scourge of the Republican’s anti-reproductive rights agenda extends to contraception as well.We’ve seen right-wing judges, Justices and extremist Republicans calling on the Supreme Court to reconsider the constitutional right to contraception and states are trying to ban access to some or all contraceptives by restricting public funding for these products and services.

Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans will not be able to outrun their anti-abortion records, because the American people know that if given the chance, extremist Republicans will not stop in their campaign to strip away fundamental liberties in this country.

Democrats will never relent until we reverse the immense damage MAGA Republicans and the Supreme Court have inflicted, and we remain absolutely committed to doing everything we can to protect women, families, and reproductive freedom.

I thank each of you for your dedication to this fight and look forward to continuing our work this
month and beyond.

Sincerely,
Charles E. Schumer
United States States Senator