The Supreme Court this week announced that it’s taking up a case that could overturn the nearly 50-year-old precedent established by Roe v. Wade — which could take away abortion access and open up the floodgates to outrageous bills that could criminalize certain women’s health decisions and threaten reproductive justice at large. This is the biggest threat to Roe v. Wade yet, and the consequences would be horrific.

Make no mistake, John: this announcement is the result of years of Republican-controlled legislatures passing harmful, restrictive legislation to limit women’s access to abortion and steadily chip away at reproductive rights and women’s health care.

And thanks to Senate Republicans who rigged the Senate’s judicial confirmation process for years, and stacked our nation’s highest court with conservative justices, the Supreme Court has just given them the opportunity they’ve been waiting for.

As a physician, I've seen the difficult decisions women and families make with their doctors, often under unimaginable circumstances. And I can tell you that politicians in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, or Jackson, Mississippi, or Washington D.C., for that matter have no business telling a woman what choices she is allowed to make for her own body.

Whether a woman is making the decision to move forward with a wanted pregnancy even though it could put her life at risk due to an an underlying health condition, or to have an abortion — those choices must stay between her and her doctor.

That is reproductive justice at its core. That choice is in the woman’s hands, and I’ll fight like hell to protect and expand it as a doctor and as your U.S. Senator.

We all know there is too much at stake here and that we can’t sit by. We must raise our voices as loudly as we can in support of Roe v. Wade and protect reproductive justice for all. We’re at a critical moment and it’s going to take all of us.

Will you join me in defending Roe v. Wade and supporting reproductive justice? Add your name:

Standing together, we cannot fail!

In solidarity,

Val