For Immediate Release: 
September 2, 2021

Clarke Condemns Dangerous Supreme Court Shadow Docket Decision to Block Anti-Abortion Law in Texas

Washington, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09) released the following statement condemning the dangerous Supreme Court shadow docket decision to block Texas’s recent anti-abortion law: 

“Let me be very clear; this law is an all-out assault on reproductive health and rights in America and will have devastating and immediate consequences in Texas. It is wrong. Women have the right to make their own decisions about their bodies. This law eliminates access to legal abortion after about six weeks — before many women even know they’re pregnant. Congress must act. We must proactively legislate reproductive justice and advance substantive policies that affirm a woman’s fundamental right to choose,” said Clarke. “I am proud to co-lead the Women’s Health Protection Act, which is comprehensive and necessary legislation that would codify a woman’s right to choose and ban the types of harmful state laws like the one in Texas that aim to eliminate reproductive justice. We have no choice but to use every tool at our disposal to protect women, to protect a woman’s right to choose, and to project bodily autonomy for all people — regardless of gender identity, income, or race. The time to act is now. Because women cannot wait.”

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Yvette D. Clarke has been in Congress since 2007. She represents New York’s Ninth Congressional District, which includes Central and South Brooklyn. Clarke is Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Taskforce on Immigration,  a Senior Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and a Senior Member of the House Committee on Homeland Security.