Whew, it seems things are happening nonstop. I have wavered between anger, rage, sadness, and utter disbelief since the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. In this devastating time for abortion rights, I cannot keep quiet or still. Our elected officials must do everything in their power to ensure our access to reproductive health care!

To be clear, We are in a public emergency! The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case effectively overturned Roe v. Wade, resulting in state anti-abortion bans going into effect almost immediately.

Congress must act now! The Court’s action and the resulting state bans on abortion demands a renewed and urgent effort by our legislative leaders to once again bring these two critical bills to protect abortion access to the floor for another vote.

The House of Representatives is taking action, once again, on the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA)—a federal bill that would codify Roe, addressing the attacks on abortion rights happening across our country. The House is also taking up The Ensuring Access to Abortion Act (EAAA), legislation that would protect the rights of those seeking abortion care in another state when it is unavailable in their home state). Enacting WHPA and EAAA is a critical step toward creating a world where every person is free to make the best personal decisions for the future of their lives. Now more than ever, we need Congress to take swift action to protect our rights. We need every member of Congress to vote YES on these bills and fulfill their commitment to show up for people and communities who are in dire need of abortion and reproductive health care, protection of their privacy, and physical safety.

The roll back of our rights must end! What’s clear about abortion-specific restrictions and attacks is that they are being used as a tool of gender oppression and target health care services that are used primarily by mothers, young women, Black women, trans people, immigrant women, and other communities of color who are disproportionately marginalized and whose reproductive health care needs are too often ignored.

At this very moment, the actions by the Supreme Court and the relentless effort by anti-abortion lawmakers are preventing women and others who need abortions from accessing essential health care. The impact is devastating. Right now, in the United States, 40 million women of reproductive age are affected by the reversal of Roe v, Wade. Thirteen states (Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah) have banned or severely restricted abortion, and dozens of cities have become “abortion deserts” leaving people who live there with no option but to travel 100 miles or more to reach a provider. [1] Congress has a responsibility to pass legislation that works to undo the harmful and systemic racist, sexist, and homophobic attacks on our rights and they must move urgently as millions of lives are on the line.

Now it’s time to double down: We need Congress to know that they must do everything in their power to protect access to abortion care for all. This means voting YES on the Women’s Health Protection Act, the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act, and standing up, once and for all, for our right to reproductive health care – our human right! And we won’t stop until we have the rights we deserve!

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