Friend,

I wish I didn’t have to follow up on my earlier email (below), but what just happened in Texas should compel each and every last person reading this email to take action. Truly, Friend, I am counting on you.

As you’re likely aware, under the cover of darkness, a majority of conservative Supreme Court Justices – three of them appointed by Donald Trump and confirmed by a Republican-controlled Senate – allowed the most restrictive abortion ban in the country to move forward in Texas.

As a result, the precedent of Roe v. Wade has effectively been overturned in Texas. Access to safe, legal abortion is now illegal after six weeks of gestation, before many women even know they are pregnant. There are zero exceptions for rape or incest. In fact, in a remark beyond ludicrous even for a leader in the Republican Party, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott claimed he had the power to rid his state of all rapists so that nobody would need to seek out an abortion.

Texas is actively violating human and constitutional rights while also putting people in harm’s way. Dozens of other conservative-led states have now vowed to follow suit. Inaction at the federal level is no longer an option. Please, even if you’ve spoken up already, speak out again and again until we win: Sign my petition to urge Congress to pass my bill, the Women’s Health Protection Act, to guarantee nationwide access to abortion care.

Roe v. Wade is on life support. Congress must take steps to codify the right to an abortion into law, but we need major grassroots activism to make it happen. Thank you for adding your voice to this urgent fight.

Dick

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Richard Blumenthal
Date: Wed, Sep 1, 2021
Subject: Roe v. Wade effectively overturned – unless we act now

Friend,

I have disturbing and urgent news to share – and I’m counting on you to take action like never before:

Today, because the Supreme Court failed to intervene, the Texas GOP’s extremist new abortion law goes into effect – and Roe v. Wade will effectively have been overturned. The stakes couldn’t be higher for women in Texas and across the country.

Texas’ radical and unconstitutional law will:

  • Ban abortion beyond six weeks of pregnancy – before most women can know or even be aware that they are pregnant.
  • Create a vigilante justice system that allows anyone in the entire country to personally sue Texas health clinics, doctors, nurses, clinic administrators – just about anyone who helps a woman exercise her constitutional reproductive rights. Including a friend or family member who drives her to the clinic or gives her financial assistance. And each of these individuals can be sued for $10,000 and legal expenses.

There is a clear-cut pathway at the federal level that could have blocked this extremist legislation in Texas and prevent anything like it from taking hold across the country:

That’s the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill I introduced, which would guarantee a woman’s right to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions. This new law would enshrine a woman’s right to choose at the federal level – and ensure it’s protected, no matter what the courts or right-wing state lawmakers try to do.

Friend, it is no exaggeration to say that we are on the precipice of a monstrous violation of fundamental human rights if this Texas anti-women law survives its legal challenges and remains in effect. That’s why I am once again asking 2,500 members of this team to sign on to my petition to protect women’s reproductive health. Time is of the essence, so please add your name immediately.

Sign on now to urge Congress to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act so we can defend women's reproductive health.

SIGN THE PETITION

If we do nothing, Texas is only the beginning. Our country could return to dark days where every single woman’s personal decision about when to have a child is controlled by the government – back to the days where abortion care was driven underground and made unsafe.

As we’ve seen with GOP-led attacks on voting rights, when extremist laws take hold in one state, they can spread like wildfire to others. Texas’ sickening new maneuver will be a model for anti-choice legislators across the country, and that’s why action at the federal level to block these extremist laws is so necessary.

I will fight with everything I have to prevent that from happening, but I need you to help me pass this vital legislation through Congress. Please, can I count on you to sign my petition now urging Congress to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act? I’m counting on 2,500 team members to sign on before midnight to protect abortion access.

Thank you,

Dick



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