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U.S. Representative Lee Zeldin
In light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the guarantee to legal abortion in all 50 states — and a sense that other rights could be next to fall — the House of Representatives took up votes recently on a bill codifying the right to same-sex marriage and another codifying access to contraception.
Both bills passed in the Democratically controlled House, with Democrats unanimously in favor.
Lee Zeldin, the U.S. representative for eastern Long Island and the Republican candidate for New York State governor, was among 47 Republicans who joined the majority in approving the Respect for Marriage Act, while he voted against the Right to Contraception Act, which garnered just eight votes from Republicans.
In 2011, when Zeldin was a New York State senator, he voted “no” on the Marriage Equality Act, which legalized same-sex marriage in the state. Then, in 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case Obergefell v. Hodges, legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
Should Obergefell v. Hodges be overturned, as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas forecast in his concurring opinion in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade, the legality and recognition of same-sex marriage would once again become a matter for individual states to decide. Likewise, Thomas suggested the court reconsider its past decisions upholding the right to access birth control.
Critics of the Right to Contraception Act, which passed on Thursday, July 21, object to the bill protecting access to forms of contraception that can induce abortion and say that it would protect funding for abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.
Zeldin’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Both bills have been sent to the Senate, where their potential passage will be more of an uphill battle than it was in the House.
