Five Reasons Why We Support the Women’s Health Protection Act

It has been over four decades since the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the legal right to abortion in Roe v. Wade, yet that right has been under constant attack at the federal, state, and local levels.  In 2016 alone, 18 states passed 50 new laws restricting abortion, including:

  • laws that impose a mandatory delay on a woman who has decided to have an abortion;
  • laws make abortion illegal at various stages in pregnancy; or
  • laws that impose medically unnecessary regulations on abortion clinics.

This past June, in the case of Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, the Supreme Court rejected the Texas State Legislature’s thinly-veiled attempt to restrict women’s access to abortion with laws placing burdensome requirements on abortion providers and clinics—all under the guise of protecting women’s health.  The 5-3 decision means that states can no longer skirt constitutional protections by imposing extreme requirements on clinics.
Yet, additional action is needed to stop politicians from interfering with a woman’s legal right to abortion.
So, the top 5 reasons why we support the Women’s Health Protection Act reintroduced today by Senator Blumenthal and Representative Chu are:

  1. Because politicians should not interfere with private medical decisions made between a woman and her trusted health provider.
  2. Because a woman’s zip code should not determine her ability to access legal abortion.  The onslaught of state restrictions on abortion are determining when, where, and how women can have an abortion. Even though the Whole Woman’s Health decision helps to prevent states from passing harmful restrictions, we know anti-abortion legislators are not giving up. It is more imperative than ever that we take action to preserve a woman’s legal right to abortion no matter where she lives.
  3. Because restrictions on abortion access interfere with a woman’s reproductive autonomy and economic security and hinder her ability to pursue career and educational opportunities.
  4. Because restrictions on abortion impose costs, such as costs for travel and time off work that disproportionately impact women of color and their ability to exercise their legal right to abortion.
  5. Because women’s health care should not be treated differently and abortion providers should not be unduly penalized for providing safe, legal abortions.

State politicians must be put on notice that it’s time to stop interfering with women’s legal right to abortion.  Despite attempts to undermine and overturn Roe v. Wade, it is the law of the land and we stand ready to protect a woman’s legal right to determine her own reproductive destiny.

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