The Supreme Court has done it — something we have feared could happen for years, and feared more acutely over the last few months. The court has overturned Roe v. Wade and more than 50 years of precedent that has protected the health, dignity, privacy, and autonomy of Americans.
Many thought this day would never come, but we have been warned that it could happen for as long as I can remember. And that is because this decision comes from a long-term, focused strategy to overturn Roe v. Wade.
That strategy has included passing laws in the states to chip away at Roe’s protections incrementally. That strategy resulted in laws like we have in Texas — placing onerous restrictions on women seeking abortions, including invasive ultrasounds, 24-hour waiting periods, and state-mandated misinformation and on abortion providers, singling them out for unequal treatment among health care providers. That strategy worked. While abortion got harder and harder to get, many people still felt that Roe would protect this fundamental right.
But in Texas, we know that is not the case. Last year, the Texas legislature enacted one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. It outlawed abortion after about six weeks and it deputized vigilantes to sue anyone helping someone seeking an abortion. Even with these unprecedented and unconstitutional provisions, the Supreme Court refused to rule on an emergency petition to review the law before it went into effect. As a result, abortion is effectively banned in Texas. As it now is in Oklahoma. As it will be in many other states. And as it will be across the country if Republican leaders in Congress have their way, and regain the majority. Some have already said they would propose a nationwide abortion ban in the next Congress.
I’m not giving up though. Frankly, it’s not an option. We need to have a sustained strategy, focus, and commitment to protect our rights and freedoms. There are many things we must do. But we know we can’t rely solely on courts to protect our autonomy, dignity, and privacy. We know we need to elect leaders who will. And that’s what this team will do.
In 2018, we won this seat together, sending me to Congress with a historic number of women from across the country. We flipped the House on the strength of those victories. And we changed the face of the Congress. Last fall, our pro-choice majority in the House passed the Women’s Health Protection Act to codify Roe in all 50 states.
That is what’s possible when we work together to elect leaders who share our values and who fight for them in office.
There’s no doubt we have our work cut out for us. There are important elections this year in Texas and across the country, including ours in TX-07. It’s going to take all of us participating to change the path the Supreme Court put us on today.
Thank you for all you do.
Together, we can do anything,
