We are here today to remember an important milestone for women’s rights and equality – Roe v. Wade. 53 years ago today, this 7-2 Supreme Court decision ruled that the rights guaranteed by the US Constitution include the right of women to bodily autonomy, privacy, and reproductive freedom.
I am heartbroken and furious at what right-wing ideologues have done to our rights and our lives. Republican politicians have stopped at nothing to strip women of their most basic and fundamental right to their own bodies.
To be clear: abortion is NOT controversial. 80% of Americans do NOT want politicians dictating our most personal, intimate decisions. No one is asking for legislation to force women to use catch kits. No one is asking for women suffering from miscarriage and stillbirth to be investigated and imprisoned. No one is asking for attacks on birth control coerced c-sections to end doomed pregnancies, or to defund childcare centers and healthcare access. Yet that’s what Republicans in power give us, year after year.
The anti-choice movement can’t help themselves. Look no further than yesterday’s senate floor session, where Republicans are trying to force schools to show children misleading, computer generated propaganda made by an anti-choice organization best known for making false and deceptive videos. The “science” they purport to be following is funded by anti-choice organizations, but anti-choice leaders of the organizations behind this effort have accidentally told the truth: these bills are about indoctrinating young children to oppose abortion rights in an attempt to change the politics of this issue.
What does it mean to live in a free society? Privacy, autonomy, self-determination, equality under the law. Not being forced to live under someone else’s narrow ideology, especially when it puts our health and lives in jeopardy. Since the Dobbs decision, Pro Publica has documented at least 7 women who have died because of abortion bans, and the number is likely much higher — even as states rush to dismantle their maternal mortality commissions to bury the proof that abortion bans kill women.
In closing, as we mark this day, I want to note that Roe v Wade was the floor — it was never enough to ensure reproductive freedom or justice and left far too many people behind. It didn’t address our staggeringly high maternal mortality rate, lack of post-partum health care, paid family leave, and inadequate support for childcare and public schools, or the right of kids to be raised in safe communities – all fundamental pillars of reproductive justice. We will not be silenced or demoralized by these anti-choice attacks on our freedoms. Together, we can create a future where everyone has the freedom to make our own healthcare decisions.
