FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday May 3, 2022
CONTACT: Sara Loflin, Executive Director at [email protected]
Summer Nettles, Communications Director at [email protected]
DENVER: On January 22, 1973 a monumental decision guaranteeing women in the United States the right to control our bodies and determine our physical and financial futures was upheld by the Supreme Court. In the 49 years since its passing the Consitutional right to bodily autonmy guaranteed by Roe v. Wade has made abortion safe and legal.
Last night Politico released a draft of the Supreme Court opinion to overturn this historic ruling sparking outrage and inspiring women to gather outside of the nation’s highest court in protest, chanting, “abortion is healthcare.”
The reversal of Roe v. Wade would mark the first time in the history of the United States that access to a Constitutional right has been taken from citizens of our country.
What does that mean?
It means 24 states, including Colorado, would have to absorb the needs of women in the 26 states that would make abortion illegal. It means women would have to drive thousands of miles to access safe abortion services and women financially incapable of securing transportation would seek unsafe abortion services. It means some states would pass laws making it illegal to travel outside your home state to get an abortion resulting in interstate lawsuits exhausting tax payer funds we could use for education, roads and bridges or medical care.
In a midterm election year we know the assault on women’s reproductive rights won’t stop at the Supreme Court. If Republicans become the majority in the House and the Senate the efforts to ban access to abortions won’t end at state lines.
“Colorado voters who have protected abortion rights over and over would see a federal attack on access to abortions. We’re only one election away from disaster,” said ProgressNow Colorado executive director Sara Loflin. “Every candidate running for office in Colorado, from Joe O’Dea and Heidi Ganahl, needs to tell voters where they stand. Attempts to ban abortion in Colorado by right-wing special interests have been tried at the legislature and are coming again to the ballot box. Today’s news raises the stakes for every election in Colorado.”
Americans have witnessed a frighteningly well-planned assault on our democracy culminating in the installation of Supreme Court Justices who would align themselves with political parties instead of the American people. We must elect officials who will codify the Women’s Health Protection Act.
ProgressNow Colorado, formerly known as the Rocky Mountain Progressive Network, was founded in 2003. The flagship of 20 state-based affiliates and the state’s largest multi-issue progressive advocacy organization PNC creates compelling media to educate, inform and engage Coloradans in progressive change.
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