Murkowski vows to work on legislation in response to abortion ruling

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) announced Friday that she would prioritize legislation permitting abortion across the country following the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.

“In the wake of this ruling, it is up to Congress to respond,” wrote Murkowski, vowing that she would continue “to work with a broader group to restore women’s freedom to control their own health decisions wherever they live.”

She added: “Legislation to accomplish that must be a priority.”

Murkowski recounted that she had introduced legislation earlier this year “to protect women’s reproductive rights as provided in Roe,” namely the Reproductive Choice Act.

A press release explained that the Reproductive Choice Act would “codify the standards set in Roe and Casey and assure they continue to be the law of the land.”

“Senator Murkowski supports women’s reproductive freedoms, including the right to an abortion up to fetal viability,” the statement reads.

Fetal viability, the gestational age at which a fetus is able to survive outside of the womb, in the U.S. is currently considered to be 24 weeks. The earliest a baby has been born is at 21 weeks gestation, a record set at The University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital.

Murkowski’s own state of Alaska permits abortion under its constitution, but the senator wrote that “women in other parts of the country will face a different reality that limits their health decisions, even in extreme circumstances.”