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Friend,
Two years ago today, the hyper-conservative
supermajority occupying the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.
The Dobbs decision marked the first time a civil right
established by a prior court ruling and upheld by legal precedent for
nearly 50 years was erased by a subsequent SCOTUS ruling. It’s an
ominous sign of what’s to come if we do not reign in this rogue
court.
I practiced
internal medicine for 25 years. I remember the terrifying days before
Roe. I remember watching close friends endure
the horrors of back alley abortions.
Since Dobbs, maternal
mortality has shot up at least 24% – nearly 40% among Black mothers.
And it’s going to get worse as more bans take
effect.
At least 40% of
American women and people who can get pregnant of childbearing age
live in a state where abortion access has been severely restricted
since Dobbs. Countless have had life-threatening pregnancy
complications and been refused emergency care. Incidents of
rape-related pregnancy have dramatically increased, with one study
published by JAMA Internal Medicine finding 65,000 rape-related
pregnancies in just 14 states with harsh abortion restrictions in the
first 18 months after Dobbs.
Abortions will always be available to people
wealthy enough to travel to jurisdictions where it remains legal. The
simple fact is that abortion bans make women less safe, and make it
more likely that women and children will get trapped in cycles of
generational poverty.
We should be furious
about all of that.
Yes, we should be furious with right-wing state legislatures
that push radical abortion bans and the far-right governors and courts
that put them into practice.
But we should be
equally if not more outraged by decades of empty rhetoric from
Democrats. Their calculated inaction is no less a betrayal to women
than the extreme right-wing lawmakers pushing these barbaric abortion
bans.
Lest we forget,
in the 51 years since Roe was first
decided, Democrats controlled Congress nearly HALF of that
time.
Every single
Democratic president since Roe held a trifecta
(controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House) at some
point in their presidency.
With his trifecta in 2021-2022, Joe Biden could have guaranteed
abortion rights before OR after Dobbs. He
didn’t.
Never once in 51 years have Democrats
made a serious effort to codify the right to an abortion into federal
law. But they did raise BILLIONS of dollars from ordinary Americans
who entrusted them to fight for us.
This is not a fundraising issue to me. This
is personal. As a doctor I know all too well that pregnancy itself is
often a life-threatening condition. As an activist and a mother, I
believe fiercely that no one should ever be forced to remain
pregnant.
As
your president, I will leverage every tool at my disposal to safeguard
our human rights and secure your right to healthcare – including
abortion care.
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