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ACLU Supporter –
We hope things are as restful as possible for you this week, but with major Supreme Court cases on the horizon and a slew of attacks ongoing in the states, we know that abortion rights could and should come up – now and in the months ahead.
We at the ACLU want to help. So our expert team from the Reproductive Freedom Project created a mini-guide on abortion rights for you – a handy reference on this urgent issue to bring into any discussion with friends, family, or anyone else.
This is full of the quick, crucial facts on abortion rights you'll want to be equipped with in conversation.
The mini-guide is here for you to dive into now – but we've also pulled some key points below to easily screenshot, share, or reference (under the dining room table, for example).
- Before getting into current events and any larger nuances, let's just be clear on a few key facts to keep with you as conversations get going:
- Abortion is safe, an overwhelming majority of Americans support it, and it's common.
- Abortion is also a constitutional right, a human right, and essential health care that all people should be able to access equally. Period.
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- When it comes to discussing abortion access, the focus should remain centered on the people who need, or will need, this critical care – and the direct harm forced pregnancy places on lives.
- Banning abortion would force people to carry pregnancies against their will.
- Despite how anti-abortion politicians want to frame it, forced pregnancy is not some political talking point: Forced pregnancy is taking away a person's constitutional and human right to control their body and their future.
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- While it has been a legal right for five decades, politicians have consistently restricted abortion in ways that disproportionately affect those struggling financially, Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, people who are undocumented, and young people. This is due to policies rooted in systemic racism, white supremacy, and other structural inequities.
- Also, when we say abortion access for all – it means ALL. Restrictions on essential abortion care directly impact transgender men and nonbinary people, too. The fight to protect our right to abortion is for everyone who can get pregnant.
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- Over this past year, anti-abortion politicians have passed over 100 medically unnecessary and politically motivated abortion restrictions – more than any since Roe v. Wade.
- These laws are part of a broader, decades-long agenda to push care out of reach state-by-state – to ultimately overturn Roe and take away our right to abortion entirely.
- That's where the current cases on abortion at the Supreme Court now come into play.
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- Of the many abortion bans introduced into legislatures this year, a few are under review at the Supreme Court this term: Two could change abortion rights as we know it.
- In Texas, SCOTUS will soon decide whether a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and its many partners challenging Texas' ban can continue. Because of that law, most Texans who need an abortion can't get one in the state – and if SCOTUS doesn't do the right thing we will see that nightmare play out in states across the country.
- On December 1, in a case challenging a Mississippi law (brought on behalf of Jackson Women's Health Organization by the Center for Reproductive Rights), SCOTUS will consider whether to overturn Roe v. Wade. This could end our constitutional right to abortion and is the greatest threat to abortion in more than a generation.
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ACLU Supporter, the right to get an abortion is at a precipice – we all must stay informed and keep speaking up for this critical freedom as much as possible. That's why we hope you use and share this mini-guide however you find most useful in the weeks and months to come.
And rest assured, we're preparing for all scenarios and outcomes as the Court's rulings get closer – to ensure we can use every avenue to defend your constitutional right.
So when it comes to the future of abortion care, you can know with absolute certainty that the ACLU, and all of us who believe in safe, equal access, will be there to protect it.
Thank you for being with us in that fight,
The Team at ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project
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