, plus a Democrat and an independent who lean pro-choice. Together, they share a common belief that banning abortion is not about saving unborn lives, it’s about controlling women.
“I’m the only Republican who did not support a six-week ban,” Senn says. “I lost that argument.” She favors a 12-week ban, but recognizes that politics is the art of the possible, and together with the other women amended the proposed six-week ban to include important exceptions, such as allowing doctors to proceed with emergency care when a woman’s life or health is threatened without first requiring an ultrasound to check for a fetal heartbeat.
Complicating matters, the state Supreme Court in January ruled unconstitutional an earlier six-week abortion ban, hastily passed last year afterwas overturned in 2022. However, the deciding vote on the Court, a woman, retired. The legislature replaced her with a man, boosting the likelihood that a new six-week ban could survive the court test.
“This is Plan C,” Jones continues, to have the Court uphold the bill not because the bill has changed, the Court has changed.”