Last week, the Supreme Court of the United States took unprecedented, deeply disappointing, and ideologically-driven action to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision protecting the right to safe and legal abortion. Less than 50 years after this consequential decision, women are once again faced with the uncertainty, fear, and challenges of finding safe and legal access to abortion and reproductive health care.
The Supreme Court’s decision is more than a ruling, it is a pointed attack on Americans’ rights to make decisions for their bodies, their lives, and their future. The impacts of this decision will be deadly, and the most dangerous impacts of this decision will affect those who already face barriers to care – particularly Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, people with disabilities, people in rural areas, young people, and those having difficulty making ends meet.
Women have already begun to suffer because of this decision. In states with trigger laws, abortion clinics were shut down immediately after the decision was announced and women waiting to receive care were turned away.
We cannot, and we will not, allow the rights of the American people to be dismantled by a court willing to put personal ideology ahead of the Constitution and the rights of women to control their own bodies. While this was a significant step back in the fight for reproductive justice, we will not be deterred.
On Friday, I marched with my colleagues of the Pro-Choice Caucus to the Supreme Court alongside hundreds of people lighting to protect reproductive freedom for all Americans. In Congress, I have worked to uphold the legal right to abortion established under Roe v. Wade and pass critical legislation like the Women’s Health Protection Act to defend and expand access to reproductive health care and protect the night to abortion.
It is critically important for all my constituents to understand that in the State of California, abortion is still legal and people can access safe and legal abortion care. But for millions of others across the United States, this is not the case because of the extreme ideology of a few.
Every American deserves the right to make their own personal health care decisions – and I am committed to continue protecting the right to abortion access across the United States.
Sincerely,
JULIA BROWNLEY
Member of Congress