John,

See, President Biden? The word is easy to say. Not Roe, not choice, not women’s health.

As a nation, we are seeing two diametrically opposed things playing out simultaneously: support for Roe and the constitutionally protected right to abortion continues to grow [1] while, at the same time, more and more states are imposing, or are poised to impose, increasingly restrictive bans that effectively outlaw abortion.

Now is not the time to pussyfoot on abortion. Now is the time to stand up and unabashedly say you support abortion. Full stop.

While we were pleased to see President Biden address some reproductive justice issues last night in his State of the Union address including prohibitively expensive childcare and lower cost pre-K for all, we were incredibly disappointed that at this crucial moment in history the right of everyone to access abortion was couched in euphemisms.

It has been six months since Texas imposed its near-total abortion ban, forcing countless people into unnecessary travel and expenses – if they are lucky. And into parenthood they did not want if they are unlucky.

This is not only a national disgrace – it is a national crisis. We need a massive response. And we need to start by addressing it by name.

Sincerely,

Erin Matson
Executive Director, Reproaction

P.S. We’ve had abortions. We will have abortions. We support abortion unequivocally and without apology. We urge President Biden to join us.

[1] https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/21/politics/cnn-poll-abortion-roe-v-wade/index.html