Yesterday, my colleagues in the Senate voted on the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill I’m proud to have co-sponsored in the House that would codify Roe into law, defending the right to abortion in all 50 states.

I applaud all those who took action to right the wrong of Justice Alito’s leaked decision – especially my friend Sen. Casey from Pennsylvania who understands that personal disagreements on Roe do not mean the government has any right to make these tough decisions for families.

I am disappointed that this bill was not able to make it to President Biden’s desk, but we will continue fighting to protect abortion access wherever we can. The recently leaked draft decision regarding a woman’s right to choose is an alarming step backward and demonstrates our country’s continued march towards extremism.

Let me be clear – abortion is health care. 70% of Americans agree; the vast majority of our country wants to uphold Roe v. Wade, the decision on women’s reproductive rights that has stood for almost 50 years.

This jarring departure from settled law also opens up the floodgates to potential unrestrained government interference in the lives of Americans with an alarming rollback of our freedoms from gay marriage to access to contraception – and many extremist governors are already suggesting just that.

Today, we may not have passed this critical piece of legislation, but we are not done. I urge all my fellow legislators to join me in continuing to do whatever we can to defend the right to abortion, the right to contraception, the right to gay marriage, and all other freedoms that the extreme wing of the GOP is hoping to overturn.

Thank you,

Matt Cartwright