One month ago, Texas passed one of the most restrictive abortion laws our country has ever seen, and the Supreme Court allowed it to go into force. And last night — just days after a federal judge issued an order blocking implementation of that outrageous law — the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated it, banning all abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy even in cases of incest and rape, and giving vigilante groups the right to enforce it.

And what happens in Texas won't stay in Texas. Republicans across the country are just getting started.

In Florida, Arkansas, Indiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, and South Dakota state legislators are working to replicate the Texas ban — and effectively overturn reproductive choice for American women in large parts of our country — especially those in low-income communities with the least access to resources and support networks. This legal challenge is working its way up to the Supreme Court where there is a huge risk that an expanded conservative majority is waiting for an opportunity to kill the Roe v. Wade precedent.

We cannot sit and wait for this to happen. We must act now at the federal level to pass legislation to protects a woman's right to choose from this dangerous assault. Add your name to demand the Senate end the filibuster and act to pass the Women's Health Protection Act and codify the reproductive rights guaranteed to all by Roe v. Wade.

As I have said before, this dark day has been coming for some time. In Maryland we took decisive action during my first term in the state legislature to protect women in our state from the shifting politics of the Supreme Court on reproductive rights.

Now we must move quickly to protect women in states across the country where Republicans are determined to find new ways to limit their right to choose.

Thank you for speaking out on this important issue.

Chris