Protect Medication Abortion
Anti-abortion extremists are attacking medication abortion. Add your name in support of access to medication abortion.
Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice California Responds to Report That Supreme Court Will Overturn Roe v. Wade in Draft Opinion
For Immediate Release: Thursday, May 5, 2022
Contact: [email protected]
Sacramento — Following reports that a majority of Supreme Court justices are planning to strike down Roe v. Wade and allow states to ban abortion in the coming months, NARAL Pro-Choice California Director Shannon Olivieri Hovis released the following statement:
“The leaked Supreme Court opinion is the most ominous and alarming sign yet that our nation’s highest court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, paving the way for a future where more and more people are punished and criminalized for seeking and providing abortion care. NARAL Pro-Choice California and our nearly 300,000 members statewide will honor our values as a Reproductive Freedom State, electing candidates up and down the ballot who will work to protect and expand abortion access, contraceptive care, paid family leave, and much more as they embody our values around the freedom to decide if, when, and how we decide to start or grow a family, free from political interference.”
This shocking and unprecedented leak follows multiple other signals that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade case that recognized the constitutional right to abortion. Abortion care is already almost entirely out of reach in states like Texas, where a vigilante-enforced law banning abortion as early as six weeks of pregnancy has rendered Roe meaningless in the state.
Should Roe fall, 28 states are poised to take action to prohibit abortion outright. Of those, 13 states already have “trigger bans” in place, which would ban abortion automatically if Roe is overturned. These bans and attacks on abortion access fall hardest on those most marginalized, including people of color, LGBTQ people, people with low incomes, and those in rural communities. States like California, which is home to more than a quarter of the nation’s healthcare facilities that provide abortion care, will have an outsized role in providing access to out-of-state abortion care. If Roe is overturned and states move swiftly to ban abortion, it is predicted that there would be a 2,923% increase in women of reproductive age whose nearest abortion provider would be in California—from 46,000 to 1.4 million people.
In response to nationwide attacks on reproductive freedom, NARAL Pro-Choice California and its allies formed the California Future of Abortion Council (CA FAB Council) to create a blueprint for California’s next steps to safeguard and expand abortion access. Earlier this year, NARAL Pro-Choice California joined fellow FAB Council steering committee members to announce a legislative package of 13 bills introduced this year that will codify recommendations of the Council.
NARAL Pro-Choice America, the organization’s national arm, has already begun ramping up its work to elect candidates up and down the ballot who will take bold action to safeguard and expand abortion rights. Just before this week’s breaking news from the Supreme Court, NARAL announced a partnership with Planned Parenthood Action Fund and EMILY’s List to collectively spend a historic $150 million on the 2022 midterms to elect reproductive freedom champions.
###
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, pregnancy and post-partum care, 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 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.
Press Release Nevada