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WASHINGTON — Today the Senate will vote on a bill to codify the Supreme Court decision making abortion the law of the land.

Since the 1970’s Roe vs. Wade has been the de facto law ensuring a woman’s right to have an abortion in the U.S. Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer is bringing a bill to the floor for a final vote today that would make Roe vs. Wade a duly passed law.

It would also legalize late-term abortions.

The measure is doomed to fail in the 50-50 Senate, something Schumer is well aware of. Schumer has said the vote is geared more towards putting Republican lawmakers on the record on their stance in regards to abortion.

“Senate Republicans will have to answer for everything they’ve done over the years to embolden the hard right’s hostility against a woman’s choice,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “They will not be able to hide from the American people. The vote will tell and America will be watching.”

Ahead of today’s vote, Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) spoke on behalf of Republicans who plan to vote no on the measure.

“As Americans, we believe in the dignity and value of every human person,” Young said. “I believe that our nation has a moral responsibility to protect unborn children, to protect life.”

Young likened abortion policy in the United States to that of China and North Korea, saying that the US is one of only seven countries in the whole world that allows abortion beyond 15 weeks of pregnancy, the threshold he says many studies show is when an unborn baby can feel pain.

“This bill does nothing to protect the health and safety of women and it would certainly not protect the unborn,” Young added. “Recent polling found that 61-percent of Americans say abortion should either be illegal or the policy decisions surrounding abortion should be left up to the states.”

Young is urging Congress to bolster support for over 2,700 pregnancy centers around the U.S. that provide care “at virtually no cost”, and that we invest in and support adoptive services.