Senator Murray Statement on 50 Year Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) issued the following statement on the 50-year anniversary of Roe v. Wade—and the first anniversary since the landmark decision was overturned by the Supreme Court, unleashing a wave of Republican attacks on Americans’ reproductive rights.

“Fifty years ago today, Roe v. Wade was decided, establishing the constitutional right to abortion for women across America. But today, tens of millions of women across the country lack the same fundamental right their mothers counted on—to control their own bodies and futures—after Republicans fought for decades to overturn Roe, and succeeded last June.

“In the seven months since the Supreme Court overturned Roe, Republicans have enacted one extreme state abortion ban after the next, stripping over twenty million women of the ability to get an abortion and unleashing a full-fledged health care crisis. Republicans’ extreme policies have forced women to keep pregnancies they don’t want—no matter their circumstances. And despite the American people making crystal they don’t support Republicans’ radical, anti-abortion agenda, Republicans are not letting their foot off the gas. They are already voting on anti-abortion bills in the House—and they have their eyes set on the same end goal: a national abortion ban. Republicans simply could not be more out of touch with the American people.

“But this fight isn’t over—far from it. All across the country, people are continuing to make their voices heard loud and clear. When abortion is on the ballot—the right for a woman to make her own health care decisions wins every single time. Here in the Senate, my Democratic colleagues and I are going to keep making clear where we stand. We are going to keep fighting to restore Roe and protect every woman’s reproductive freedom in this country—and we are going to block every extreme anti-abortion bill House Republicans send our way.

“The difference could not be more clear: Republicans are forcing women to stay pregnant no matter what and threatening doctors with jail time—and Democrats stand with women. We won’t stop fighting until every woman in America once again has the right to control her own body and future.”

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