The US Senate is scheduled to vote on a nationwide abortion rights measure –– a likely doomed effort –– after a leaked draft ruling indicated the Supreme Court's intent to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has called the proposed decision an "abomination," announced on Sunday that he had scheduled a vote on codifying the right to abortion in the United States. The court's conservative majority appears prepared to outlaw it.

Given the blocking power of Republicans in an evenly divided 100-seat Senate where critical legislation almost always faces a 60-vote threshold, the chances of victory are practically nil.

Nonetheless, the vote would put politicians on record regarding one of the most divisive subjects in the country.

According to the New York Daily News, Schumer stated at a press conference on Sunday in Manhattan, "Republicans have tried to duck it,"

Now they must demonstrate whose side they are on.

Republican states have already initiated action.

In recent months, Republican-controlled states have taken moves to restrict abortion rights, given that an overturning of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision would allow states to set their abortion laws.

Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, reaffirmed her resentment over the court's imminent probable decision, telling CBS News on Sunday that "the court has slapped women in the face in terms of disrespect for their judgments about the size and timing of their families."

As the Democrats lack the necessary majority to approve codification, it would appear that the only alternative would be to change Senate rules to reduce the number of votes required to pass such a bill.

However, Republicans and a few senators from the Democratic Party of President Joe Biden reject this action.

'Half-citizens'

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand stated, "we will never give in" to Republican efforts to pull back protections for abortion rights.

"We are half-citizens under this ruling," she told CNN, referring to the draft opinion. And if this is passed into law, the very foundation of America will be altered.

Multiple conservative states are already in transition.

Governor Tate Reeves, a Republican, told NBC on Sunday that the southern state of Mississippi will prohibit abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or threat to the mother's life.

In the future, though, "we must prove that being pro-life is not just about anti-abortion," Reeves added, by ensuring that expectant moms and babies have the necessary resources.

According to a Pew Research Center poll issued on Friday, Sixty-one percent of Americans say abortion should stay legal in all or the vast majority of cases.

As with so many other social issues, though, the gulf between Democrats and Republicans is enormous and widening. Pew reports that 80% of Democrats support abortion rights in all or the majority of situations, more than double the 38% of Republicans who agree.