Senator Murray Statement on Reporting on SCOTUS Draft Decision Overturning Roe

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, issued the following statement on the recent reporting that the Supreme Court will strike down the abortion rights codified in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey in the draft majority decision in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

“If this is true, this kind of outcome is exactly what I’ve been ringing alarm bells about—and this is a five alarm fire. Republicans’ goal has always been to ban abortion: they’re already banning abortion in state legislatures across the country, they’re fighting for a federal ban right here in the Senate, and plan to overturn Roe in the Supreme Court too.

“In a matter of days or weeks, the horrifying reality is that we could live in a country without Roe. If this is true, women will be forced to remain pregnant no matter their personal circumstances. Extreme politicians will control patients’ most personal decisions. And extreme Republicans will have eliminated a fundamental right an entire generation of women have known their whole lives.

“After ringing these alarms, for years now: it’s time to break the glass. It’s time for every single person—in every single state—to realize this impacts you, your choices, your rights. It’s not happening to someone else, in some other state—it’s happening everywhere, and the highest court in the land is preparing to rip away your rights at this very moment. We need to fight back with everything we’ve got right now. The right to abortion is on the line, and I’ll never stop fighting to protect it. 

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