John,

Since the right-wing Supreme Court overturned our right to abortion at the federal level, millions of voters have gone to the polls and demonstrated their support for abortion rights—from my home state of Michigan to Montana, Kansas, Kentucky, and Vermont.

And recently, Republicans in the House and Senate voted to protect LGBTQ+ marriages before the Supreme Court has a chance to overturn those rights.

This shows that there could still be a path forward for protecting abortion rights (and our fundamental right to sovereignty over our own bodies) during the lame duck session, before the GOP controls the House in January.

Sign now: Tell Congress to protect the right to safe and legal abortions across the country. We have less than a week left while Congress is still in session!

This year, the House passed the Women's Health Protection Act, which would go further than Roe v. Wade, ending state-level restrictions on abortion.

It would affirm the right to provide and receive abortion care, free from medically unnecessary restrictions that some states have enacted—including mandatory waiting periods, biased counseling, two-trip requirements, and mandatory ultrasounds.

(Note: The bill refers to women but, if passed, it would protect the health of anyone who can give birth, including trans men, non-binary people, and intersex people.)

Even when Roe v. Wade was in place, the legality of abortions did not guarantee access to abortions. Abortions were already inaccessible or hard to access for communities who face oppression such as Black women and trans people, particularly in states with restrictions.

We need not only affordable and accessible abortion in our communities, but a fuller set of rights as laid out by the reproductive justice movement, started and led by Black women.

The organization SisterSong defines reproductive justice as “the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities.”

I’ve been working on this in Congress, including by starting a new Mamas’ Caucus to support pregnant people and parents of color in particular. I’m fighting for free healthcare for all, for policies like parental leave, accessible childcare and pre-k, and restarting the expanded Child Tax Credit to financially support low-wealth families.

And I’ve been fighting to end the racist Hyde Amendment, which denies abortion coverage to people already more likely to be underserved by our health system and struggling to make ends meet.

We definitely have more work to do, but Congress can and must act to codify the right to abortion into federal law. We don’t have much time before Republicans control the House in January.

Please sign now to tell Congress to protect the right to safe and legal abortions across the country while we still can.

We have less than a week left while Congress is still in session, and when we return in January the GOP will have a majority in the House. Now’s our chance!

In solidarity,

Rashida