This weekend, Salon published an op-ed by American Bridge 21st Century Co-Chair Cecile Richards discussing the onslaught of Republican attacks on reproductive rights following the Dobbs decision and the extreme anti-choice agenda of Republican Senate candidates.
Salon: Senate Republicans set to seize on Supreme Court’s abortion opening
By Cecile Richards, American Bridge 21st Century Co-Chair | 06/29/2024
Key Excerpts:
- For 50 years, Americans counted on Roe v. Wade to protect not only the right to abortion, but the ability to receive lifesaving care for miscarriages and the chance to build families through fertility care… Then, two years ago, anti-abortion Supreme Court justices handpicked by Donald Trump overturned Roe once and for all.
- Today, forty percent of women of reproductive age live in a state with an abortion ban. Every day, there’s another story of the chaos and cruelty these bans have caused – like the story of Ryan Hamilton, a father in Texas who recounted the horror of finding his wife unconscious and bleeding on their bathroom floor because she had been denied care for a miscarriage. Just as heartbreaking is the knowledge that an entire generation of young people have lost the right to determine their own lives and futures.
- Just a few weeks ago, Florida Senator Rick Scott released a campaign ad saying, “You can count on this grandpa to always protect IVF.” The only problem? The day before, he voted against the Right to IVF Act, which would have done just that.
- And then there’s Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who introduced legislation for a national abortion ban. Texas women have died because of abortion bans in Senator Cruz’s home state.
- The list goes on and on: Republican candidates Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania, Tim Sheehy in Montana, Sam Brown in Nevada, and Bernie Moreno in Ohio all have one thing in common: They oppose abortion rights.
- In state after state – Kansas, Michigan, California, Ohio, Vermont, and Kentucky – when voters have had the chance to weigh in on this issue, they’ve sent a powerful message: Keep politicians out of our medical care. They used their power to either protect abortion access or defeat anti-abortion rights efforts and they won. Every single time.
- Millions of Americans are counting on us to suit up and head to the polls: Teenage sexual assault survivors in Louisiana, pregnant women enduring non-viable pregnancies in Alabama, and people in Mississippi who aren’t ready to be parents. Our votes will be the difference between repairing the damage caused by overturning Roe or allowing a national abortion ban to be signed into law by President Trump. The good news is, as voters have proven again and again, when we organize and vote together, there is no stopping us.
Published: Jul 2, 2024 | Last Modified: Jul 17, 2024