Response to Roe v. Wade Supreme Court Leak - May 3, 2022

If the report we saw last night is true, that the Supreme Court plans to end the constitutional right to abortion in this country and overturn Roe V. Wade, this is a five alarm fire. It is exactly the kind of dangerous outcome I have been warning about, and was always the goal of Republicans. They are already banning abortion in state legislatures across our country. They are already planning for a federal ban, right here, in the senate – and they already pushed through the far right justices to overturn Roe, and end the right to an abortion. In a matter of days or weeks, the horrifying reality is we could live in a country, without Roe. A country where women are forced to remain pregnant no matter their personal circumstances, and yes we are also talking about situations like rape, or incest. A country where extreme politicians will control patients’ most private decisions – and let's be clear: abortion bans will not actually end abortions. They will just make them unsafe, and they will hurt the woman with the least resources and the tightest budgets. I am furious – furious that Republicans could be this cruel; that the Supreme Court could be this heartless; that in legislatures across the country, extreme Republicans are ready for their trigger bans to go into effect. They're excited even. It is craven, and we won't stand for it. I’m not going to sit quietly, and neither should any of you.

I know for so many women across the country, this is deeply personal – and it is deeply personal to me too. I remember life before Roe. I knew people who did not have someone to turn to, for a safe abortion – who were not wealthy. So even if they could find one, they might not be able to afford it. People who got unsafe procedures that left them, at a very young age, unable to give birth. That has stayed with me to this day, as have so many of the stories I have heard from women after Roe. I know how big of a difference it has made in the lives of so many women across the country, which is why I am furious at the idea that Republicans are going to take us backward; that this will be the first generation of women with fewer rights than their mothers.

My heart goes out to everyone across the country who is feeling the weight of this news, but I’m not done fighting on this issue – far from it. And I know women across the country are not either. We will not be still, we will not be silent, and we will not back down. And to those who have not felt the weight of this moment yet, who don't think this could happen – who don't think it matters to them – it is time to wake up. Every single person, in every single state, needs to realize this impacts you, your choices, and your rights. It's not happening to someone else in some other state, it is happening everywhere, and the highest court in the land is preparing to rip away your rights at this very moment. We need to fight back with everything we've got, right now. We need a pro-choice majority in the senate. We need to protect our pro-choice majority in the house. We need to send President Biden a bill that will protect every woman's right to an abortion – and we are going to keep pushing to make it happen. Because women's rights are at stake; women's health is at stake. Women's economic security is at stake. Women's lives are at stake. Thank you.

Murray, P. [Global News]. (2022, May 3) Roe v. Wade: Democratic Senators speak after US Supreme Court draft leak on abortion rights | FULL [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvqOvA_svcE]. Retrieved on May 4, 2022 from https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChLtXXpo4Ge1ReTEboVvTDg.