Ft. Lauderdale, FL – We should all be able to make the personal health care decisions that impact our lives, health, and futures. But today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a shattering blow to the right to access abortion in the U.S., leaving even more people struggling to obtain the essential health care they need. Never before has this Court rolled back a right the American people have relied on for half a century.
The Court’s opinion is impactful in the worst way possible. The repercussions will be deadly. Pregnant people will be forced to carry pregnancies against their will, risking their health and their lives. Nearly half of the women of reproductive age in the United States, and more people who can become pregnant, live in the 26 states that will likely move to ban abortion, meaning more than 36 million people will feel the effects of this decision.
The implications will also be disproportionate, felt most acutely by Black, Latino, and Indigenous people, immigrants, people living with low incomes, and people in rural areas — communities that historically already face barriers to abortion access due to systemic racism and discrimination.
Reproductive rights are LGBTQ+ rights. This decision will have devastating consequences for LGBTQ+ people – including queer people, non-binary people, and transgender men, who all need safe access to reproductive care.
Abortion access is just one of several fundamental rights currently under attack, including our right to privacy and body autonomy guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, intertwined with our right to liberty in which Roe v. Wade was grounded. It raises concerns about the Court’s ability to dismantle other rights related to LGBTQ+ families, because this is also the Amendment upon which the rights gained by LGBTQ+ people rest, including the right to marry.
“The court’s opinion is appalling and unprecedented and is a dangerous assault to not only the right to terminate a pregnancy, but also to other constitutional rights involving privacy, liberty, and autonomy, ” said CenterLink CEO Denise Spivak. “At a time when there are hundreds of pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation that have been introduced, or in some cases passed, in states across the country, we need to ensure that every person has access to the care they need, and the power to control their own body and life. We as a nation, and as human beings, deserve judges and elected officials – at all levels of government – who believe that as well.”
Decades of attacks have left abortion rights in the U.S hanging by a thread. Today that thread was cut, but we are not defeated. We will keep working until every person, no matter where they live, how much money they make, or how they identify, has the freedom to make their own decisions about their lives and futures.
Sussex Pride is a proud member of CenterLink. CenterLink strengthens, supports, and connects LGBTQ community centers. Founded in 1994, CenterLink plays an important role in addressing the challenges centers face by helping them to improve their organizational and service delivery capacity, access public resources, and engage their regional communities in the grassroots social justice movement. www.lgbtcenters.org