YOUNG DEMOCRATS OF AMERICA STATEMENT ON THE ROE V WADE OPINION

WASHINGTON, DC - Today is a dark day for people of the United States. The Roe v Wade opinion has protected those who can become pregnant for 49 years, and stood as an unfortunate but necessary barrier between a person’s reproductive rights and the overwhelming, invasive, and regressive regulations of the Right.

The Supreme Court has now decided to strike down this case which has saved millions of lives, and in so they have damned so many more in the future. We will reiterate: doing away with Roe will not stop abortions. Conservatives will lean on their so-called moral superiority and take their pearl-clutching tactics in front of abortion clinics but fail to recognize that overturning this decision can only lead to harm. This has been a strategy that Republicans from state legislatures to Washington, DC have plotted ever since Roe was first decided. Every single law passed to dismantle reproductive freedom piece by piece has led to this moment, from forcing people to carry out unwanted or medically impossible pregnancies to charging those who have abortions with murder.

It may seem as if this fight is all but lost, but this is not the end. Right now, this is not a nationwide abortion ban. This is only the Right’s next step in that direction. What we must do as Democrats—and as those who believe that abortion is healthcare—is continue to work electorally and legislatively in our state legislatures and elected judiciaries to ensure that every person’s right to an abortion is protected.

Our state legislatures are and will continue to be the last line of defense in the battle for protecting reproductive health, reproductive rights, and to protect the lives of millions more.

We here in the Young Democrats of America know that abortion is healthcare. We know that it is a right that everyone who can get pregnant deserves. Every single person deserves to have complete autonomy over their own body, full stop. We will continue to do what we can for as long as we can and however we can to make that known.

We encourage our members to make their voices heard at the ballot box to vote for their state legislators this fall. Be heard at your state legislatures, and stand up until residents of all states are protected by the codification of reproductive freedoms.

We reiterate our call on President Biden and Congress to stop at nothing to ensure that we can protect all people’s right to reproductive care.

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The Young Democrats of America (YDA) is the official youth wing of the Democratic Party of the United States and the oldest partisan youth organization in the country. To learn more about the YDA visit: www.yda.org