Pro-Choice Caucus Leaders Release Statement on SCOTUS Decision on Texas Six-Week Abortion Ban
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The co-chairs of the congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, U.S. Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Diana DeGette (D-CO) released the following statement today in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to allow Texas’s six-week abortion ban to remain in effect:
“The Supreme Court’s decision to allow Texas’s egregious abortion ban to remain in place is shameful. And this court has once again failed to protect Americans’ access to abortion care.
“Everyone in this country – regardless of where they live or how much money they make – has a right to make their own decisions about their health and their future.
“It’s been 77 days since the House passed the Women’s Health Protection Act to guarantee the right to abortion care for all Americans. For 100 days now, people in Texas have been denied their right to access the abortion care they need. The pain and hardship this egregious ban is causing cannot be undone. It’s past time for the Senate to act and enshrine the right of every American to access the abortion care they need into law.”
Texas’s new abortion law (S.B. 8) is the most extreme anti-abortion law currently in effect in the United States. It bans abortion as early as six weeks of pregnancy – before many people even know they’re pregnant. Since taking effect on September 1, the Texas law has made it nearly impossible for people to access abortion care in the state. While some have been forced to drive hundreds of miles out of state to get the abortion care they need, others – without the means to do so – have been left with no option to access safe abortion services.