Leaders across the nation are speaking out regarding the draft opinion leaked on May 2, from the U.S. Supreme Court that would overturn Roe v. Wade.

 

Vice President Kamala Harris 

The United States Supreme Court has now confirmed that the draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade is genuine.

Roe ensures a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion. It also, at its root, protects the fundamental right to privacy. What is clear is that opponents of Roe want to punish women and take away their rights to make decisions about their own bodies. Republican legislators in states across the country are weaponizing the use of the law against women.

The rights of all Americans are at risk. If the right to privacy is weakened, every person could face a future in which the government can potentially interfere in the personal decisions you make about your life. This is the time to fight for women and for our country with everything we have.

 

Pro-Choice Caucus, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette

 

Pro-Choice Caucus, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee

If accurate, tonight’s Politico report of a draft Supreme Court decision is the clearest indication yet that the court is poised to overturn decades of legal precedent and deal a shattering blow to the right to access abortion care in the U.S. Such a move would be an unconscionable rollback of a fundamental right and would have devastating impacts throughout the country.

Everyone should have the right to make their own personal health care decisions that impact their lives, health and futures. And it is chilling to think this court is unwilling to protect those rights.

If the Supreme Court does, in fact, overturn Roe, half the states in the U.S. will likely move to severely restrict or outright ban abortion care. If the court upends precedent, even more people across the country will soon be forced to travel hundreds of miles out of state or carry pregnancies to term against their will. Abortion bans impact everyone, but their effects fall hardest on people who already face barriers in accessing health care – particularly Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, people with disabilities, people in rural areas, young people, undocumented people, and those working to make ends meet.

At this point, it’s important to emphasize that this decision is not final and abortion care is still legal. We are still fighting every day to protect and expand abortion access across the country. And, now more than ever, we need our colleagues in the U.S. Senate to do the same by passing the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) immediately to enshrine the right to access abortion care into federal law.

 

Karen Middleton, President, Cobalt

This is exactly what we feared and why it was so important for Colorado to protect the fundamental right to abortion in Colorado law with the Reproductive Health Equity Act. We have warned legislators and the public alike that the Supreme Court was poised to overturn Roe v Wade, and this further confirms it. Regardless of what the Supreme Court ultimately decides with a final decision, because of RHEA Coloradans have the right to abortion access affirmed in our state law. This makes the urgent need to put the right to abortion in our Constitution in 2024 even more of a priority, and to hold accountable those who didn’t support abortion access with RHEA in 2022.

Esto es exactamente lo que temíamos y por qué era tan importante para Colorado proteger el derecho fundamental al aborto en la ley de Colorado con la Ley de Equidad en Salud Reproductiva. Hemos advertido a los legisladores y al público por igual que la Corte Suprema estaba a punto de anular Roe v Wade, y esto lo confirma aún más. Independientemente de lo que finalmente decida la Corte Suprema con una decisión final, debido a RHEA, los habitantes de Colorado tienen el derecho al acceso al aborto afirmado en nuestra ley estatal. Esto hace que la necesidad urgente de incluir el derecho al aborto en nuestra Constitución en 2024 sea aún más una prioridad, y de responsabilizar a quienes no apoyaron el acceso al aborto con la RHEA en 2022.

 

Dusti Gurule, President and CEO of COLOR

With this potential decision, this court is yet again showing it has no problem harming pregnant people across the country, particularly Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, people with disabilities, people in rural areas, young people, undocumented people, and those having difficulty making ends meet. At the core of our movement for Reproductive Justice is community power. And our historic victory to protect our right to abortion – in the face of a hostile Supreme Court – is just the beginning.

This is why it was so important for Colorado to protect the fundamental right to abortion into law with the Reproductive Health Equity Act. While Coloradans’ rights are now protected, we won’t stop until every state follows our footsteps in codifying abortion access and reproductive rights into law.

Con esta posible decisión, este tribunal demuestra una vez más que no tiene ningún problema en dañar a las personas embarazadas en todo el país, en particular a las personas negras, indígenas y otras personas de color, personas con discapacidades, personas en áreas rurales, jóvenes, indocumentados y aquellos que tienen dificultades para llegar a fin de mes. En el centro de nuestro movimiento por la Justicia Reproductiva está el poder comunitario. Y nuestra victoria histórica para proteger nuestro derecho al aborto, frente a una Corte Suprema hostil, es solo el comienzo.

Es por eso que era tan importante para Colorado proteger el derecho fundamental al aborto como ley con la Ley de Equidad en Salud Reproductiva. Si bien los derechos de los habitantes de Colorado ahora están protegidos, no nos detendremos hasta que todos los estados sigan nuestros pasos para codificar el acceso al aborto y los derechos reproductivos en la ley.

 

U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján

For generations, women and families fought for and secured the right to safe and legal reproductive health care. Now, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court appears poised to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision – undermining nearly 50 years of legal precedent, attacking women’s health, and putting the most vulnerable in danger.

In New México, under the leadership of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and state Democrats, legislation to protect and preserve reproductive rights is the law. New México remains a state where women and their families can make their own health care decisions. This will not change regardless of what the Supreme Court decides.

I want to be clear: This decision is not yet final. Reproductive rights, as established by Roe, remain the law of the land in America. But Congress cannot wait on the sidelines until it’s too late. The Senate must eliminate the filibuster immediately to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act and other vital pieces of legislation. The fight continues — I am not giving up now, and I never will.

 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer

This is a dark and disturbing day for America. Last night [May 2], a report came out that a conservative majority on the United States Supreme Court is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade and uproot decades of precedent affirming a woman’s right to an abortion.

It is hard not to feel angry, troubled and deeply disturbed about what overturning Roe would do to women across America. More than twenty states have laws or constitutional amendments in place that would outlaw abortions should the Supreme Court invalidate Roe. Over eighty million women live in those states. If the report is accurate, the decision would be an abomination, an abomination; one of the worst ever in modern history.

Of course, Republicans have sought this outcome for years, so you’d think they’d be celebrating such a decision. But they aren’t.

No, this morning, Republicans are shamefully scrambling—scrambling—to try and distract from the main issue.

Republicans are spending all their focus on the leak because they don’t want to talk about Roe v Wade, where they know they’re on the wrong side of history and on the wrong side of American people.

Let me say it again: Republicans are spending all their focus on the leak because they don’t want to focus on Roe v Wade, where they know they’re on the wrong side of history and on the wrong side of the American people.

Try as they might, they can’t distract from the truth: the blame for this decision falls squarely on Senate Republicans, who spent years pushing extremist judges and Justices while claiming this day would never come.

But come it has, so in light of this potential ruling I want to make three things very clear:

First: it is our intention for the Senate to hold a vote on legislation to codify the right to an abortion in law.

Second: a vote on this legislation is no longer an abstract exercise; this is as urgent and as real as it gets. We will vote to protect a women’s right to choose and every American is going to see which side every senator stands on.

Third, to the American people I say this: the elections this November will have consequences, because the rights of a hundred million women are now on the ballot.

To help fight this court’s awful decision, I urge every American to make their voices heard this week and this year.

Call your members! Write them! Call your Senators! Write them! Email them! Text them! And most of all, cast your ballots this November.

Because if Roe v. Wade is overturned, we have to assume there’s more to come. The question is, what will these Republicans – these right-wing Republicans – target next?

Will they have the Supreme Court overturn Griswold so they can prevent American women from contraception? They may say, we wouldn’t do that because of precedent.

Why would anyone believe them anymore?

Will they have the Supreme Court overrun Obergefell so that they can prevent same-sex marriage? They may say, we wouldn’t do that because of precedent.

Why would anyone believe them?

No, it’s clear that they will try to turn back the clock to a time when women, people of color, LGBTQ people are all considered second class citizens.

I do not believe the hard right will succeed. I still firmly believe in my very bones that the story of American democracy is the story of progress.

Democrats are going to fight this decision all the way, for as long as it takes. We will not relent. We will not give up. We know history is on our side and we are determined to preserve the precious rights that are the bedrock of this great nation.

 

Marshall Martínez, Executive Director, Equality New México

Politico broke the story that a Supreme Court decision had been leaked before it was finalized. The headline says it all: The Supreme Court overturns Roe vs Wade. It is important to note this is NOT a final decision, and for now, abortion is still legal in all 50 states (to some extent, anyway.)

Many of us were preparing for this for months, years even. But If I’m being honest, even though I’ve worked in the Abortion Rights movement for years, I hadn’t fully processed this could be real. Now here I sit, trying to understand it.

If this decision to fully overturn Roe is adopted, 26 states are likely to make abortion illegal. This is not hyperbole, and it is not a drill. And as with the realities of Pre-Roe – the burden will fall hardest on Black and Brown people who are able to get pregnant. We have evidence to prove this, after the Hyde Amendment (prohibiting Medicaid funding for Abortion) went into effect a Latina woman in Texas was the first documented case of “underground” abortions causing death. Because Black and Brown people are already facing the most impact from multiple systems, they will undoubtedly be the first to be prosecuted in these states for even having a miscarriage. That is just one of the many realities we are about to enter, and we have to be clear about the stakes.

And let’s be clear, the opponents of Abortion Access will not stop with Roe. They don’t’ like us as Queer and Trans people existing with pride. At risk next are the anti-sodomy laws that SCOTUS overturned then dismantling Marriage Equality – all decisions the Court made under the precedent set by Roe. We have a lot to lose.

I am an organizer by training and trade, and so normally this is where I would present a plan of action. A list of steps we must take, the things we have to do to fight back – and we will. But for today, I am asking our supporters, our members, and our friends to just allow space for processing. Let us feel the heaviness of this moment, and let us take care of ourselves.  This election will be critical for bodily autonomy.  And we will write soon, to talk about what we have to do. But for now, we are allowed to yell and scream, cry and sleep, care for ourselves through the immense weight of this decision. Tomorrow there will be work to do. Today, the work is caring for ourselves so we can fight tomorrow.

 

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