Planned Parenthood Responds to Biden’s State of the Union
For Immediate Release: March 2, 2022
Biden’s Speech Falls Six Months to the Day of Texas’s Six-week Abortion Ban
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Tonight, during his State of the Union speech, President Biden spoke to the national abortion access crisis and the need to preserve everyone’s ability to make their own health care decisions. Today also marks six month to the day since Texas’s harmful six-week abortion ban, S.B. 8, took effect.
President Biden said: “Advancing liberty and justice also requires protecting the rights of women. The constitutional right affirmed in Roe v. Wade—standing precedent for half a century—is under attack as never before. If we want to go forward—not backward—we must protect access to health care. Preserve a woman’s right to choose. And let’s continue to advance maternal health care for all Americans.”
Earlier this month, Planned Parenthood Federation of America joined more than 120 reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations to sign an open letter to President Biden, calling on him to address attacks on abortion in the State of the Union address.
Statement from Alexis McGill Johnson, president, Planned Parenthood Action Fund:
“As state legislatures across the country escalate relentless attacks on abortion rights and the Supreme Court gearing up to rule on a case this spring that could overturn Roe v. Wade, we need President Biden and all our leaders to step up and fight back. We thank the president for making important calls tonight to protect reproductive, LGBTQ+ and voting rights, advance maternal health, expand health care access, and to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Now is the time to be as bold and strong as possible. We are at a breaking point for reproductive freedom, and we need lawmakers at all levels of government to act. There is no more time to waste.”
The State of the Union comes as the stakes are at an all-time high for abortion rights in the United States. Out-of-touch state legislatures continue to push unpopular restrictions on abortion, including strict bans. More than 265 abortion restrictions have already been introduced across 41 states in 2022. Already this year, legislative chambers in Arizona, Florida, and West Virginia advanced abortion bans at 15-weeks just days apart from each other. Several states have introduced copycat bills intended to emulate Texas’s six-week abortion ban, which the Supreme Court has allowed to stay in effect for six months. This spring, the Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade, which guarantees our right to abortion, in the Jackson Women’s Health case. If that happens, half of the states in the country will likely to move to ban abortion.
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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 limited electoral activity, including grassroots organizing, legislative advocacy, and voter education.