Ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on June 24th, which ended the Constitutional right to an abortion, Health Care for America Now (HCAN) Executive Director Margarida Jorge released the following statement:
“In the year since the Supreme Court’s devastating decision to end the Constitutional right to abortion, our country has suffered serious health and economic consequences. The freedom to choose if and when to have children is a basic right that for nearly 50 years ensured that Americans could access safe and affordable reproductive care. Without that fundamental protection, pregnant people across the country face impossible decisions to obtain the care they need. What’s more, they have been exposed to increased surveillance, harassment and even arrest for simply making personal decisions about their own health care needs.
“Full abortion bans have already been implemented in 14 states, and six others have passed partial bans that severely restrict access to critical abortion care. The impact of these restrictions extends well beyond people seeking an abortion. Clinic closures, delays in accessing treatment, reproductive health training for medical professionals, and doctors fleeing states where abortion is now a crime are all byproducts of the assault on abortion that leave everyone in those states with less access to the doctors and facilities they need.
“Recent polls show that 59% of Americans oppose the Supreme Court’s decision and 61% support abortion rights meanwhile public opinion about the Supreme Court is at a three-decade low. Extremist Supreme Court judges who took away the Constitutional right to make our own health care decisions have undermined the integrity of the court and put at risk the health and well-being of millions of Americans. Advocates will continue to pursue every strategy to restore rights and access to the fundamental reproductive health care in Congress, the states and the courts.”
