Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice

The right-wing extremists on the Supreme Court have gutted our constitutional right to abortion care, and Congress must do everything in its power to protect this fundamental right. In Pennsylvania, the only thing protecting our access to abortion care from the Republican extremists in the state legislature is a Democratic governor’s veto. We cannot rely on a patchwork of state-level rights that are consistently under threat. We need to protect reproductive rights at the federal level. And Congress must not only safeguard the federal right to abortion, but also repeal laws like the Hyde amendment which puts care out of reach for marginalized and low-income communities, and end the criminalization of abortion at the federal level. We must actively pursue legislation that codifies our abortion rights and makes reproductive health care more accessible like the Women’s Health Protection Act and the EACH Act and end the filibuster to ensure an outdated Senate rule doesn’t stand in the way of protecting our rights. 

Additionally, if we want to ensure the right-wing Supreme Court cannot further roll back our fundamental freedoms and rights, we must expand the Supreme Court and end lifetime appointments for unelected justices to the highest court of the land. 

Make no mistake, abortion bans and attempts to chip away our reproductive rights are attacks that fall hardest on the most marginalized Black and brown communities that already lack necessary access to care. Right now the maternal mortality rate for Black women is four times higher than it is for white women. Members of the LGBTQ+ community - particularly trans women of color and non-binary people - also experience major disparities in sexual and reproductive health care and worse health outcomes overall. We need to address these inequities in healthcare access and outcomes to ensure that all people have access to safe, inclusive, and affordable health care, as is their human right.