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Memos & Media Guidance
NARAL Pro-Choice America Responds to Mississippi’s Latest Ask That Supreme Court Review Abortion Ban That Challenges Roe v. Wade
For Immediate Release: October 22, 2020
Contact: [email protected]
This move underscores the high stakes for abortion rights as Senate Republicans ram through Amy Barrett’s illegitimate confirmation process
Washington, DC— Yesterday evening, news broke that Mississippi’s attorney general has asked again for the Supreme Court to review Mississippi’s ban on abortion, a case that directly challenges Roe v. Wade. This comes just days before the Senate is expected to vote on Trump’s nominee that would solidify an anti-choice supermajority on the Supreme Court. The Mississippi attorney general filed a supplemental request to urge the Supreme Court to take up the case, which has been pending at the Supreme Court since June.
NARAL Pro-Choice America Chief Communications and Research Officer Adrienne Kimmell released the following statement in response:
“This new filing by Mississippi’s Attorney General makes clear the threat to Roe v. Wade is real and imminent. Make no mistake: Republicans have been trying to dodge their desire to end Roe, but the cards are on the table. Anti-choice politicians are already hanging the drapes and putting any step in motion they can to strip reproductive freedom from all Americans.
As Republicans rush to jam through the illegitimate confirmation process for Amy Barrett to the Supreme Court and put our fundamental freedoms in unprecedented jeopardy, the American people are watching closely.”
Mississippi’s supplemental filing in their request for the Supreme Court to review the 15-week abortion ban came the same day as Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance Amy Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court. The Mississippi ban was originally struck down by a federal district court in November 2018 and never went into effect. This is one of dozens of cases making its way through the federal courts that puts Roe v. Wade and access to abortion care at risk.
The vast majority of Americans support reproductive freedom, and polling has found that 77% support Roe v. Wade. And according to Yahoo News, new Yahoo News/YouGov polling conducted last week found that “support for Barrett’s confirmation actually slipped 8 points (flipping from 44-40 percent in favor to 44-40 percent opposed) during the past week, in part because a plurality of registered voters (31 percent to 21 percent) now think that the court will overturn Roe v. Wade if she joins it.”
Though anti-choice Republicans continue to pretend they don’t know the truth about Amy Barrett’s stance on Roe v. Wade, her record speaks for itself:
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Barrett has suggested that Roe v. Wade is an “erroneous decision.” She also signed onto an ad calling the landmark ruling “barbaric” and failed to disclose it in the documents submitted to the Senate ahead of her confirmation hearing. Another anti-choice ad Barrett signed onto called “for the unborn to be protected in law.”
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She refused to answer questions about whether states could make seeking abortion care a felony if Roe v. Wade is overturned or punish people seeking abortion care with the death penalty. She also refused to answer whether states could prosecute people for using contraception if Roe is overturned.
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Barrett has aligned with the most extreme elements of the anti-choice movement, sided with states trying to restrict abortion access, and joined anti-choice groups in voicing opposition to the Affordable Care Act’s birth control benefit. She’s even connected to a group that calls for criminalizing abortion providers and common aspects of in vitro fertilization (IVF).
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During her confirmation hearing, Barrett refused to say whether she believes Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and declined to call Roe v. Wade “super-precedent,” or settled law. She also refused to give her position on Griswold v. Connecticut, a landmark Supreme Court ruling on the right to use birth control.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates and chapters have fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom—including access to abortion, contraception, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its more than 2.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 7 in 10 Americans who believe every person should have the freedom to make the best decision for themselves about if, when, and how to raise a family.