Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican who represents South Carolina, found herself on the wrong side of her conservative colleagues after she wore a blazer reading: "My State is Banning EXCEPTIONS — Protect Contraception" on the House floor.
Mace told reporters that she would break with her party and support a bill proposed by Democrats to protect contraceptive rights, one of several actions they've taken since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that once protected a person's right to choose reproductive healthcare without excessive government restriction.
Mace said that if "you're gonna have a state that bans abortion for women who are victims of rape and incest, you have to and should protect access to contraception."
You can see what she wore in the photo below.
Mace's attire — as well as her proposal for a bill that would allow women to access birth control over the counter — angered conservatives.
Ultimately, only eight Republicans, including Mace, voted to enshrine the right to contraception.
Concerns about the future of contraceptive rights have taken on fresh urgency in the weeks since the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization overturned Roe.
The decision on Roe, which hinged on a right to privacy that while not explicitly granted in the United States Constitution was nonetheless accepted per the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (which grants all citizens “equal protection of the laws"), suggested other Supreme Court rulings, such as those regarding contraception and same-sex and interracial marriage, are now in doubt.
The Supreme Court ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut cites this right to privacy in protecting the liberty of married couples to buy and use contraceptives without government restriction. The ruling was hailed as a victory for people who can get pregnant in particular and is presumed to be on the chopping block in the near future.
Earlier this spring, shortly after a leaked draft opinion indicated the Supreme Court's ruling in Dobbs would move to strike down Roe, Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland warned that the eroison of privacy rights "would appear to be an invitation to have Handmaid's Tale type anti-feminist regulation and legislation all over the country."
