The U.S. Senate just voted down a Federal abortion rights bill that was passed by the House of Representatives. The vote was 49 for to 51 against. All 50 Republican Senators plus nominal Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia voted NO. So no Federal law to protect abortion rights. Forced child bearing or dangerous illegal abortions will now be the fate of millions of poorer women in the U.S. in the coming years, as theocrats and reactionaries and male supremacists, operating through the GOP (Gang Of Plunderers) bring the U.S. closer to the dystopia of Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale."
Democratic Senate leader Charles Schumer of New York staged the vote to force every Senator to go on record as to where they stood on the abortion issue. He stated this as the reason. Because the vote would have been moot in any event because it needed 60 votes in the 100 seat Senate to overcome the filibuster rule.
The Democrats could change that rule, as they have 50 Senators and the Vice President, Democrat Kamala Harris, breaks ties in the Senate. A simple majority is all that is needed for rule changes.
But Manchin and fellow DINO (Democrat In Name Only) Kirsten Sinema of Arizona oppose altering the ridiculous filibuster rule. That rule, by the way, was invented by racist Southern Democrat Senators. It has nothing to do with the constitution or statutory law. It is simply a Senate RULE that the Senate created for itself. (It used to be even worse, requiring 67 Senators to bypass it. It was modified to 60. Another modification made judicial nominations exempt from this minority veto.
Obviously Manchin voted the way he thought would be approved of my the voters of his benighted state. Apparently the backward hicks of the poor state of West Virginia think having more unwanted children is the way to a more prosperous and humane future. This is a state that opposes Federal programs that help the people there. It's a state that wants its children and their children and their children to work in coal mines. This is a state of stubbornly ignorant people unwilling to change one bit.