ST. LOUIS — Talking with reporters Wednesday morning, Rep. Cori Bush(D-St. Louis) said the Supreme Court leak was surprising, saying "at first, I didn't believe it."
But it was also the outcome she expected.
"Working with advocates and other folks on the ground and my colleagues, we knew that this was coming," the St. Louis Democrat said.
Missouri is one of the 13 states with "trigger laws" that would automatically and immediately ban abortion in the first and second trimesters if the landmark case Roe v. Wade were overturned.
With calls for Congress to codify abortion rights into law, Bush said the numbers are not on their side.
Just a few months ago, the House approved a bill on the issue, but in the Senate, the measure got 46 votes. That's far short of the 60 they need.
Bush said removing the filibuster would bring them within the grasp of their goal.
"Our position has been the same since I have been in the seat, and it has been to abolish the filibuster. We need the votes and right now we do not have the votes to codify Roe V. Wade," she said.
But 5 On Your Side Political Analyst Anita Manion says Senate Democrats don't have the numbers they need to end the filibuster either.
"It's not likely that this is going to get through Congress. They don't have enough votes to break a filibuster," she said.
Political Science Professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Manion says it's unlikely Congress could accomplish anything with their current members, but this leaked draft could galvanize voters.
"If it would have been maybe a more incremental change, it might not have sparked such a reaction, but we have seen a really strong reaction in the last couple of days," she said. "Usually in political science, we see that people tend to be more energized, turn out more, and donate more to campaigns when they feel like something is threatened or taken away from them."
Bush said she'd like to see the president spend some of his political capital to shore up the votes they would need.
Manion adds, for many reasons, "I don't think this is the end of this fight."