Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Releases Statement on Anniversary of Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s Confirmation to the Supreme Court
For Immediate Release: October 26, 2021
Contact: [email protected]
Washington, DC – On October 26, 2020, Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, solidifying an anti-choice supermajority on the bench hostile to reproductive freedom. It’s no coincidence that in the time since, anti-choice lawmakers have escalated attacks on abortion access in states across the country, and the Court has agreed to hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case that directly challenges Roe v. Wade.
NARAL Pro-Choice America Acting President Adrienne Kimmell released the following statement on the one-year anniversary of Barrett’s confirmation:
“Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation emboldened anti-choice lawmakers to go all in on their attempts to ban legal abortion and strip Americans of their reproductive freedom. As the Supreme Court prepares to hear a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, Barrett’s presence on the Court threatens our fundamental rights and freedoms. With the future of legal abortion at stake, it is imperative that the Senate pass the Women’s Health Protection Act to safeguard the right to abortion.”
NARAL Pro-Choice America and its 2.5 million members are mobilizing to hold the senators who voted to confirm Barrett and the rest of Trump’s justices accountable for putting reproductive freedom in jeopardy.
In September, the anti-choice supermajority that Barrett’s confirmation cemented on the Court allowed Texas’ vigilante-enforced ban on abortion (SB 8), to go into effect. By refusing to block this ban, a majority of the justices, including Justice Barrett, allowed Texas to render Roe essentially meaningless in the state. Last Friday, the Court announced that it will hear oral arguments in two cases regarding Texas’ ban on abortion on November 1, allowing the draconian law to remain in place in the meantime. Just a few weeks after those arguments, the Court will hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on December 1—a case that directly challenges Roe v. Wade and threatens the constitutional right to abortion.
The threat to the future of Roe comes as anti-choice state lawmakers have already introduced, advanced, or passed more than 330 bills attacking abortion access in 2021. This year, 106 restrictions on abortion access have been enacted at the state level, making it the worst year for abortion rights since Roe was decided.
The unprecedented barrage of attacks on reproductive freedom underscores the urgent need for the U.S. Senate to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act to protect the right to abortion throughout the United States should Roe fall. Every day without action means that more and more people are being denied their constitutional right to abortion—and this disproportionately affects Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and people of color; members of the LGBTQ+ community; and those with lower incomes.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, paid family leave, and protections from pregnancy discrimination—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 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.