“We have been preparing for this. We’re ready for this fight,” Planned Parenthood, the nation’s leading abortion provider, tweeted. “Abortion is still legal and we will continue to fight across the country—this will not stop us. Your body is your own. You and only you should control your personal medical decisions.”
Senator Raphael Warnock, who serves as the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta let his followers know, “As a pro-choice pastor, I’ve always believed that a patient’s room is way too small for a woman, her doctor, and the United States government. I’ll always fight to protect a woman’s right to choose. And that will never change.”
Former United States president Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, shared a statement, saying, “If the Supreme Court ultimately decides to overturn the landmark case of Roe v. Wade, then it will not only reverse nearly 50 years of precedent—it will relegate the most intensely personal decision someone can make to the whims of politicians and ideologues.”
The statement further said that “what Roe recognized is that the freedom enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution requires all of us to enjoy a sphere of our lives that isn’t subject to meddling from the state—a sphere that includes personal decisions involving who we sleep with, who we marry, whether or not to use contraception, and whether or not to bear children.”
Justice Alito’s draft forces people to give up “any constitutionally recognized interest in what happens to their body once they get pregnant,” they said. “The consequences of this decision would be a blow not just to women, but to all of us who believe that in a free society, there are limits to how much the government can encroach on our personal lives.”
Women who can’t travel to states that allow abortions will seek out illegal abortions that will pose greater health risks, the statement said.
“That’s a risk none of us want,” the Obamas said. The couple encouraged pro-choice supporters to join with activists in urging Congress to codify Roe into law—campaigning to elect those who will do just that this November.
