WPSR Statement on the Overturning of Roe v. Wade
On Friday, June 24th, the United States Supreme Court ruled that each state may now create any laws it wishes to regulate or completely ban abortion services, overturning nearly 50 years of precedent created with the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, and making the U.S. a global outlier in abortion care.
WPSR unequivocally denounces this overtly partisan Supreme Court decision, which a vast majority of health professionals in this country have agreed will adversely impact all women, and the health of low-income and working people, people of color, and their families, in particular.
At WPSR, we work to address the dire health threats of nuclear weapons, the climate crisis, and growing economic inequity. While abortion law is not one of our focus areas by name, we know that reproductive rights underlie all three of our programs: without reproductive justice, there can be no economic or environmental justice. Reproductive health and reproductive freedom require more than legal access to abortion care but also require access to contraception, access to pre-natal care, and access to childhood health care.
As we continue to reckon with the many ways the Dobbs ruling will exacerbate the issues we work on every day, WPSR stands in solidarity with all health professionals dedicated to protecting the health and well-being of their patients. We are deeply concerned that many of these health professionals may now be placed in a position of risking arrest and prosecution for providing that care. We also stand with the countless public health leaders and organizations who are warning of the serious and inequitable health harms that will result from this decision.
Jack Resneck, Jr. M.D., President, American Medical Association
“The American Medical Association is deeply disturbed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn nearly a half-century of precedent protecting patients’ right to critical reproductive health care — representing an egregious allowance of government intrusion into the medical examination room, a direct attack on the practice of medicine and the patient-physician relationship, and a brazen violation of patients’ rights to evidence-based reproductive health services. States that end legal abortion will not end abortion — they will end safe abortion, risking devastating consequences, including patients’ lives.”
“As some states signal a determination to define personhood at fertilization, we are concerned about potential threats to a pregnant woman’s ability to receive rapid cancer treatment. Every patient should be able to increase their likelihood to survive cancer by having the option to start cancer therapy immediately, regardless of pregnancy status.”
Moira Szilagyi, MD, PhD, FAAP, president, American Academy of Pediatrics
“This decision carries grave consequences for our adolescent patients, who already face many more barriers than adults in accessing comprehensive reproductive healthcare services and abortion care.”
APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin, MD
“The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn its nearly 50-year-old Roe v. Wade decision allowing a constitutional right to abortion is a catastrophic judicial failure that will reverberate differently in each state and portends to jeopardize the health and lives of all Americans.”
“Allowing states to set individual restrictive abortion policies, including restrictions outright bans on this essential component of medical care, results in increased inequities that already plague the health care system and this country. These oppressive laws will force many people to face the known risks associated with continuing a pregnancy, including potential pregnancy-related complications and worsening of existing health conditions, as well as the morbidity and mortality associated with childbirth. The impact of this irresponsible decision will fall disproportionately on people who already face barriers accessing health care, including people of color, those living in rural areas, and those without ample financial resources.”
Monica Valdes Lupi, Managing Director Health Program, Kresge
“It is already clear that Roe’s abrupt end spells disaster for many Americans, especially for poor women and women of color who will bear a disproportionate share of the impact. There is already a vast health equity gap in this country, and we fully expect this divide to deepen and widen, particularly in the southern portion of the United States and in blue cities located in red states where highly restrictive abortion access is now lawful.”
We urge you as a WPSR supporter to make your voice heard on this issue:
Sign a petition calling for reproductive justice and the right to abortion
Donate to a legal defense fund cover bail and strong defenses for people who are investigated, arrested, or prosecuted for self-managed abortion
Call on President Biden and your congresspersons to restore and protect the right to safe, legal, and accessible abortion care