Once again, the Supreme Court has allowed S.B. 8, Texas's dangerous and unconstitutional abortion ban, to remain in effect for now. This is devastating to patients in Texas who need access to essential health care right now.
There is still a ray of hope — the court has scheduled oral arguments on November 1 to consider appeals in challenges to the law brought by the Department of Justice and from a coalition of providers, including Planned Parenthood. We are preparing now for our day in court, but in the meantime, patients in Texas will continue to be denied abortions.
This is an ongoing crisis, and we need your help to protect and restore access to essential health care in Texas and beyond. We will continue to fight S.B. 8 in the courts, and do whatever it takes to support patients and providers. Please, make an emergency donation to power this critical work.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a powerful dissent that exposes the cruelty of allowing Texas to enforce S.B. 8 while the case continues:
 |
There are women in Texas who became pregnant on or around the day that S.B. 8 took effect. As I write these words, some of those women do not know they are pregnant. When they find out, should they wish to exercise their constitutional right to seek abortion care, they will be unable to do so anywhere in their home State. Those with sufficient resources may spend thousands of dollars and multiple days anxiously seeking care from out-of-state providers so overwhelmed with Texas patients that they cannot adequately serve their own communities. Those without the ability to make this journey, whether due to lack of money or childcare or employment flexibility or the myriad other constraints that shape people's day-to-day lives, may be forced to carry to term against their wishes or resort to dangerous methods of self-help...
"These circumstances are exceptional. Women seeking abortion care in Texas are entitled to relief from this Court now. Because of the Court's failure to act today, that relief, if it comes, will be too late for many." |
|
We have a broken health care system that has long discriminated against Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities as well as LGBTQ+ people. Basic care is already out of reach for people with low incomes and those who live in rural areas. The Supreme Court's failure to step in adds to those burdens and undermines the fundamental rights we all deserve.
We need to be ready to step in and do whatever it takes to serve patients. Make your emergency gift to protect abortion access in Texas and beyond.
Thank you for everything you've done to defend abortion access, and for staying in this fight.
Sincerely,
Jenny Lawson, Vice President of Organizing and Engagement Campaigns
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
