As originally published on the OC Breeze on July 1, 2022.
Senator Dave Min (D-Irvine) and Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties issued the following statements in response to the United States Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court upheld a Mississippi state law that banned nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a law that was found unconstitutional by both the District Court and Fifth Circuit. This extremist opinion overturns 49 years of settled constitutional law, under Roe v. Wade, protecting a woman’s right to abortion.
“While today’s Supreme Court decision comes as no surprise, it is a new precedent that sets our nation on a constitutional collision course,” Senator Min said. “This decision eviscerates five decades of well settled law, and jeopardizes our most fundamental rights as Americans. To be clear, today’s outrageous and poorly founded decision doesn’t just strip away the constitutionally guaranteed right to an abortion, it also sets the stage to take away so many other rights that we take for granted today, which are based on the same right to privacy that was the basis of Roe v. Wade. The logic of this decision could also cancel LGBTQ rights, gay marriage, access to contraception, and even interracial marriage. The court’s reckless extremism poses a clear and present danger to an entire generation of women and girls, who will now grow up in an America with fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers before them. Here in California, we believe abortion access is healthcare access. I stand committed to enacting the state constitutional amendment to codify reproductive freedom for Californians.”
“The Supreme Court’s outrageous decision will open the floodgates for other states to ban abortion, forcing people to travel hundreds of miles for needed care,” said Jon Dunn, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties. “California is expected to see up to an additional 1.4 million women of reproductive age who will no longer have access to abortion in their home states. We applaud our California elected officials that are helping Planned Parenthood meet the demand through legislative efforts that focus on increasing access, covering the costs of care for patients without resources, protecting abortion patients and providers from legal liability, and bolstering the security of our health centers.”
“With this decision, the Supreme Court has taken away our right to abortion and robbed us of our power to control our own bodies,” said Dr. Janet Jacobson, Medical Director of Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties. “Being denied an abortion has proven catastrophic impacts on health and finances for women. Women denied an abortion are four times more likely to live below the federal poverty level, more likely to have poor maternal bonding, and experience an increase in generational poverty. At Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties, we believe everyone should have access to needed abortion care, regardless of what state they live in. That’s why we’ve increased abortion access at all nine health centers and created the Abortion Aid program to assist people that are forced to travel from other states. Learn more at www.abortionaid.com.”
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