Senate to vote on nationwide abortion bill ahead of Roe decision

ProfileSectionstvFeaturedMore From NBCFollow NBC NewsWASHINGTON — The Senate failed to advance a Democratic-led bill Wednesday that would enshrine broad protections for legal abortion nationwide, a vote triggered by a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that indicates Roe v. They said the Democrats' bill was too broad.Ahead of the vote, Senate Democratic leaders circulated a letter from progressive and reproductive rights groups — including the Center for American Progress, NARAL and Planned Parenthood — arguing that the Collins-Murkowski bill is too narrow and "would not protect the right to abortion."While Democrats seek to paint Republicans and their chosen conservative judges as radical, the GOP has spent recent days arguing that Democrats are out of touch with most Americans, who say in surveys they favor some restrictions on legal abortion.A Pew Research Center poll taken in March, before the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion, found that 61 percent of U.S. adults say they want abortion to be legal; but just 19 percent say it should be legal in all cases, without exception.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called the bill "extreme" and "radical.""Our Democrat colleagues want to vote for abortion on demand through all nine months, until the moment before the baby is born — a failed show vote that will only prove their own extremism," he said in a floor speech Wednesday.The leaked Supreme Court draft opinion may not be the final ruling and has no force of law until issued.