Blumenthal & Senate Democrats Demand Action to Protect Reproductive Healthcare & Defend Roe v. Wade

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), author and lead Senate sponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), joined Senate Democrats in demanding action to protect reproductive rights in response to a draft majority opinion by the Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade.

“This draft language is absolutely abhorrent,” said Blumenthal. “They can change the language, they can dress it up, they can smooth the edges, but the fact is overturning Roe v. Wade would leave American women abandoned and alone.”

WHPA, the Blumenthal-sponsored legislation, guarantees a pregnant person’s right to access an abortion—and the right of an abortion provider to deliver such abortion services—free from medically unnecessary restrictions that interfere with a patient’s individual choice or the provider-patient relationship.

“We need to vote to codify Roe v. Wade through the Women’s Health Protection Act to stop all of the restrictions, the bans, the TRAP laws, all of the impediments to women having access to health care and going back to an age where literally women died seeking abortion.”

“I hope that states will do what Connecticut did just last week and adopt measures that protect patients and providers,” Blumenthal concluded.

Blumenthal’s full remarks can be found below.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT): Thank you to my Senate colleagues, all of us Democrats for standing strong on this issue. I’m so proud to be with them today.

You know, I was a law clerk to Justice Blackmun, the author of Roe v. Wade shortly after the United States Supreme Court decided seven to two, not even close, seven to two to make Roe v. Wade established precedent as it has been for the last fifty years.

And we asked every one of the last three appointees on Roe, do you respect established precedent? And every one of them said we respect established precedent. My question for those men behind those walls and pillars is, did you lie to us? And how do you expect the American people to respect you if you lied to them?

Now, this draft language is absolutely abhorrent. The thought of leaking any document from the Supreme Court would have been unimaginable to me as a law clerk, but even more unimaginable would have been the language of this draft opinion which is contemptuous of the American people and of Congress.

They can change the language, they can dress it up, they can smooth the edges, but the fact is overturning Roe v. Wade would leave American women abandoned and alone. And it’s not just American women. One in four women in America seek an abortion. Every one of you, every one of you knows someone, every one of you loves someone who has had or needed an abortion. This issue is not a women’s issue. Women’s health care is a right, but it is about all of us, about our families.

And so, we know what to do. We need to vote to codify Roe v. Wade through the Women’s Health Protection Act to stop all of the restrictions, the bans, the TRAP laws, all of the impediments to women having access to health care and going back to an age where literally women died seeking abortion.

I hope that states will do what Connecticut did just last week and adopt measures that protect patients and providers who defy Texas and states like it, the 23 that may impose the bounty hunter restrictions and the other abhorrent laws, to protect those patients and providers as Connecticut did. I am proud to be from Connecticut and we should move right away to make reproductive rights part of this November’s election. Reproductive rights will be on the ballot and women will vote and they will make sure their voices are heard. Thank you.  

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