Dear MoveOn member,
In less than two weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case challenging a deceptive Louisiana law that, if allowed to take effect, would close all but one abortion clinic in the state. This law, despite claims by anti-abortion politicians, does nothing to protect patients' health. Its true goal is to eliminate access to abortion care. The Court's decision in this case will have a profound impact on the future of abortion access nationwide.
This unjust law requires abortion providers to have medically unnecessary and often impossible-to-obtain admitting privileges within 30 miles of where they perform abortion care. Medical experts such as the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) oppose these types of laws as medically unnecessary and burdensome.1,2 This admitting privileges law is part of an ongoing, nationwide effort to regulate abortion out of existence—effectively banning abortion without directly touching the 1973 landmark Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. From 2011 to 2017, anti-abortion politicians have pushed through 401 restrictive state laws to reduce access to abortion care.3
This is a straightforward case. In 2016, the Supreme Court found an identical Texas law unconstitutional in the case Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt. Less than four years later, nothing has changed that could justify a different outcome, but Trump has stacked the court which could reverse decades of precedent and violate our rights.
Low-income people, people of color, young people, immigrant communities, and rural communities already face the greatest obstacles in accessing health care. Laws that restrict abortion, such as admitting privileges requirements, create additional and often insurmountable burdens to accessing health care. If this law is allowed to stand, other states with right-wing legislatures can pass copycat legislation that will result in closures of the remaining clinics across the South and Midwest. Fewer clinics means more delays in care, greater travel distances, longer waits for appointments, more time off work required, lost wages, and higher cost of care—pushing abortion care entirely out of reach for many.
If you are one of the majority of Americans who support abortion rights, we need you with us on March 4. Thousands of supporters will gather outside the Supreme Court in D.C., the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, and online everywhere to send a clear message to the Supreme Court and anti-abortion extremists:
Abortion is and always will be #MyRightMyDecision, no matter where we live.
It's up to us to make enough noise that we can't be ignored. We hope to see you March 4 at the #MyRightMyDecision Rally!
Thanks for all you do.
–Mary, Amy, Nick, Eric, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "The American Medical Association Is Taking A More Aggressive Approach on Abortion Legislation," TIME, July 1, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/117114?t=10&akid=257584%2E40999114%2E4Ly2Fa
2. "ACOG Statement on Abortion Bans," American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, May 9, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/117115?t=12&akid=257584%2E40999114%2E4Ly2Fa
3. "Policy Trends in the States, 2017," Guttmacher Institute, January 2, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/115810?t=14&akid=257584%2E40999114%2E4Ly2Fa
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