Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Responds to 228 Anti-Choice Lawmakers Calling on Supreme Court to Overturn Roe v. Wade
For Immediate Release: July 29, 2021
Contact: [email protected]
Washington, DC — Today, 228 anti-choice U.S. senators and representatives signed an amicus brief in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case calling on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling recognizing the constitutional right to abortion, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. This amicus brief comes a week after the state of Mississippi filed its opening brief explicitly asking the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
NARAL Pro-Choice America Chief Campaigns and Advocacy Officer Christian LoBue released the following statement in response:
“Make no mistake: Every single politician who signed this amicus brief is actively working to strip away our fundamental freedoms and endanger pregnant people and families across the country. Their efforts to undermine Roe and end legal abortion fly in the face of the values held by the overwhelming majority of Americans who believe we should all have the freedom to make our own decisions about our health, lives, families, and futures. NARAL and our 2.5 million members will hold these politicians accountable on the campaign trail and at the ballot box for their attacks on our rights.”
Support for Roe v. Wade is at a record high. An overwhelming majority of Americans, 77%, support the legal right to abortion and do not want to see Roe overturned. Efforts to ban abortion are unpopular in every single state in the country. Despite a clear mandate from voters to protect the legal right to abortion, anti-choice, anti-freedom lawmakers have ramped up their blatantly unconstitutional attacks on abortion access in hopes of overturning Roe. So far in 2021, anti-choice state lawmakers have already introduced, advanced, or passed more than 315 bills attacking abortion access. In 2021, over 90 restrictions on abortion access have been enacted at the state level, making this the worst year for abortion rights since Roe v. Wade was decided.
The Court’s decision to hear this case is the culmination of the anti-choice movement’s decades-long effort to install anti-choice judges at all levels of our federal judiciary and end legal abortion. Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell worked in lockstep with the anti-choice movement to cement a supermajority on the Supreme Court that is unmistakably hostile to reproductive freedom. Now, this majority will now have the opportunity to dramatically roll back or entirely overturn the constitutional right to abortion.
If Roe fell tomorrow, 24 states would likely take action to ban abortion outright. Twelve states — including Mississippi — already have “trigger bans” in place, which would ban abortion automatically if Roe is overturned. The harm of restrictions and bans on abortion disproportionately fall on those already facing the most significant barriers to accessing care thanks to systemic racism and inequities, including Black, Indigenous, and people of color; LGBTQ people; those with low incomes; and others who face barriers to care.
It is critical that Congress take action to protect access to abortion care—not only by ending harmful bans and restrictions on abortion care, but also by passing the Women’s Health Protection Act to safeguard the legal right to abortion in the United States before the Supreme Court decides on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. NARAL’s 2.5 million members, in every state and congressional district, will continue to mobilize and take action to push members of Congress to take swift action to safeguard our fundamental freedoms in light of this unprecedented threat.
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NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates and chapters are dedicated to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom for all. For more than 50 years, NARAL has worked to guarantee that every woman has the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. Since 1969, NARAL has made history, grown to over 2.5 million members, and met the moments that have defined this fight with action, power and freedom. In recognition of its work defending our constitutional right to choose, Fortune Magazine described NARAL as “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.”