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Statement

50 Years After ‘Roe v. Wade,’ SCOTUS Has Taken the Country Backward, Causing Immense Hardship and Chaos for Moms, Families, and the Country – But America’s Moms Are Determined to Secure Access to Abortion Care

January 20, 2023
Reproductive Justice

Lisa Lederer, 202/371-1996

Statement of Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director and CEO of MomsRising, the online and on-the-ground organization of more than one million mothers and their families, on the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade this weekend:

“This weekend, instead of celebrating the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and all the promise it once brought, the nation continues to reel from last June’s cruel, horrific ruling by SCOTUS in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Make no mistake: America’s moms reject the dangerous post-Roe world the U.S. Supreme Court has created, and anti-abortion extremism in all its forms. 

“The Dobbs ruling and the state abortion bans it allowed have already caused immense suffering and chaos across the country, with women being denied not just abortion care but also birth control, care for miscarriages, medications they need and have long taken, and other essential services. Without question, low-income women and moms, women of color, young, rural and immigrant women, people with disabilities, and those who are LGBTQ+ are suffering the most. With even more states poised to restrict and ban abortion, and Republicans in Congress looking to further restrict access to reproductive health care, the suffering and chaos is sure to intensify.

“But so, too, is our resolve. Most people who have abortions are moms, and moms want abortion care to be accessible to all who need it, regardless of where they live, how much money they have, or the source of their health coverage. Being able to choose if we have children, and if so, when and how many children to have, which includes access to abortion care, is a fundamental right. We will not allow politicians and jurists to make the most personal decisions of our lives, to ignore medical standards, or to take away our autonomy and our right to be free and equal members of society.

“Everyone must be able to access the health care they need. Reproductive rights are human rights. Forced births and denials of health care are never okay. As we have already shown in Kansas, California, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, and Vermont, moms – and voters – will not tolerate tyranny of the minority or allow extremists to take away our essential liberty.”

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MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.