Planned Parenthood Action Fund Statement on Today’s Announcement in Breonna Taylor Case

New York, NY — Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Alexis McGill Johnson issued the following statement in response to today’s announcement by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron that two of the police officers who shot and killed a sleeping Breonna Taylor will not face criminal charges and the remaining officer has been charged with “wanton endangerment.” None of the officers are being charged directly with Taylor’s death.

Statement from Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund:

“Our hearts go out to the family and friends who knew and loved Breonna Taylor. Today’s announcement is another devastating blow as they grieve her heinous murder. This isn’t justice.

“All of the officers involved in her death should be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This disgraceful decision comes as the country is grappling with an overdue racial reckoning — including ongoing attacks on Black lives, the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black, Indigenous, and Latino communities, and continued barriers to health care because of past and present racism and discrimination.

“Planned Parenthood stands in solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives. We stand with the protestors who have been putting themselves on the front lines of the fight for freedom and justice, and who have been at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter movement.  As Breonna Taylor’s death shows, policing does not equal safety. We must keep demanding change, including the call to defund the police —which means investing in community-based solutions, education, and health care instead of militarizing police forces.

“White supremacy is more than lynching and white hoods — it’s in the biases people hold when they see Black people and how violently those biases can play out. It permeates every American institution. It’s in the policing of Black bodies, upheld through racist institutions that inflict violence without punishment under the law. It is that same policing of our bodies that makes the promise of reproductive freedom unattainable for Black people in this country. If we do not have the right to bodily autonomy to live our lives without the fear of violence, we can never achieve justice, let alone reproductive freedom.”

Tamarra Wieder, Kentucky State Director for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Indiana and Kentucky (PPAIK), said in a statement following the announcement:

“This is one more example of state-sanctioned violence against Black people and an assault against their ability to live freely. This is a painful loss for the family of Breonna Taylor, and for Louisville and the state of Kentucky … Attorney General Cameron’s decision is not the justice Breonna Taylor deserves. Cameron continues to claim the ‘truth’ is before us. The truth is, he has failed Breonna, her grieving family, and our entire community. This is why thousands across the country are marching in the street demanding justice and accountability.

“This is another call to action to dismantle white supremacy and transform the police and systems that have long created an unjust world for Black and Brown people. Every system that governs us — education, policing, transportation, housing, health care, and more — needs accountability. We will continue the fight for Breonna Taylor.”

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Planned Parenthood Action Fund is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit membership organization formed as the advocacy and political arm of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The Action Fund engages in educational, advocacy and electoral activity, including grassroots organizing, legislative advocacy, and voter education.