The NWHN’s Statement in Response to the Supreme Court Leak

Supreme Court Leak: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Communications Director Adele Costa at [email protected] for general comments and questions. If you are looking for commentary from a medical expert, please reach out to Lacey Alexander, board member, PhD, and registered nurse, via email at [email protected] for a quote.

Last night, Politico leaked a draft Supreme Court majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that explicitly overturns Roe v. Wade and abortion rights.

This leaked opinion is unprecedented and confirms that the Supreme Court is prepared to end the constitutional right to abortion and roll back fifty years of settled law in just a matter of months. The National Women’s Health Network understands that the stakes have never been higher, and that there is considerable confusion and fear surrounding these recent events. We want to make a few things clear to our membership and the public at large:

Abortion is still legal. As of today, abortion is still a constitutionally protected right, and will be unless the court decides differently in their final ruling. This ruling is expected in late June or Early July of 2022. If you need information on how to access a safe and legal abortion, please visit our Abortion Access Guide here.

This is a crisis point for abortion access. If the Supreme Court does ultimately decide to overturn Roe v. Wade – and at this juncture there is every indication they plan on doing so – there will be swift and devastating consequences for communities nationwide. Specifically, overturning Roe means 26 states are expected to move to ban surgical abortion and will likely do everything in their power to limit access to medication abortion options as well through state legislative channels. That means 36 million women across half the country would no longer have power over their own bodies and their own lives. We also know that restrictions on abortion fall hardest on Black and Indigenous people, other people of color, immigrants, low-income people, and LGBTQ people. Ensuring that all people have access to the full range of reproductive health care, including abortion care, is an essential part of addressing racial injustice and other inequities in our health care system and building a more just and equitable society.

“The National Women’s Health Network is working around the clock to preserve abortion access and educate the public,” said Abigail Arons, chair of the NWHN Board of Directors. “We are currently participating in movement-wide strategic response briefings as part of the Bans Off Our Bodies campaign headed by Planned Parenthood. We are also launching a digital education campaign today that will make sure as many people as possible across the nation, particularly the low-income women and women of color who are disproportionally affected by these assaults on bodily autonomy, understand their rights and how to access all forms of abortion no matter their situation. This campaign is expected to reach over 200,000 people in the first 48 hours who are seeking credible information on abortion right now.”

The Network has been a staunch pro-choice proponent since our founding in 1975. We won’t let the abortion bans sweeping the country put the lives and futures of women at risk, and we won’t be silenced while this fundamental right to control our bodies is threatened.

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The National Women’s Health Network is supported by our members. By choice, we do not accept financial support from drug companies, insurance companies, or medical device manufacturers. We bring the voices, concerns, and needs of all women health care consumers to policy and regulatory tables.