Statement from NOW President Toni Van Pelt:
Washington, D.C. — On January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court afforded Constitutional protection to women’s right to abortion care. Forty-seven years later, Roe v. Wade is still a critical victory for reproductive freedom, but it is one that is being chipped away piece by piece.
In 2019 alone, according to the Guttmacher Institute, lawmakers across the United States have enacted 58 new restrictions on access to abortion care and family planning. By stacking the Supreme Court and lower courts with anti-abortion extremist judges, President Donald Trump and is doing everything he can to overturn or severely limit Roe. This would come at the grave cost of the health, safety and autonomy of women across this nation.
In 1967, NOW was the first national organization to publicly endorse the legalization of abortion and we have been fighting for women’s right to choose ever since. We have hundreds of thousands of members and supporters across the country who are committed to keeping abortion safe, legal and accessible.
A recent study showed that five years after an abortion, 99 percent of women surveyed felt they have made the right decision and 84 percent of women expressed positive or no emotion with regard to their abortion after five years. Yet politicians and religious extremists are pushing for needless regulations that harm abortion care clinics and promote horrific lies about fetal pain and infanticide that have no basis in medical reality. These vicious actions encourage violence against abortion providers and threaten the fundamental right of women to control their own bodies and lives.
For more than 50 years NOW has been at the forefront of protecting women’s reproductive freedom and we are just getting started. This Friday we will join our fellow activists in counter-protesting the so-called “Right to Life” protest at the Supreme Court. We call on our grassroots activists across the country to join similar efforts. By taking to the streets, and to the voting booths, we will protect Roe for generations of women to come.
Contact
Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary, press@now.org, 202-570-4745