Statement from Congressman Dan Goldman on the 51st Anniversary of Landmark Supreme Court Decision, Roe v. Wade

Washington, DC – Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) today released the following statement commemorating the 51st anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, which recognized a Constitutional right to an abortion.

“Fifty-one years ago, the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Roe v. Wade recognized the fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution for women to make their own health care decisions. After decades of the government dictating women’s health care decisions – forcing women to travel abroad for health care, risk arrest for medical procedures, and dying in back-alleys – women across the country were finally able to legally obtain an abortion.

“Less than two years ago, the Supreme Court overturned decades of precedent and threatened to take our country back to that deadly pre-Roe era. This partisan, extremist Supreme Court ripped away a fundamental right for the first time in history and took control over women’s reproductive freedom.

“In the 19 months following the disastrous opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, state legislatures across the country have waged a war on women. Many women now are forced to flee their home states for abortions, if they can afford it, which many cannot. Others must risk their own health by carrying non-viable pregnancies, and doctors face criminal charges for providing necessary health care.

“Now, the Supreme Court stands poised to further restrict the right to medication abortion.

“We cannot allow Republicans to drag our country backwards. We will not stand for Republican attempts to erode our democracy and our individual freedoms. Every woman, in every state across America, must have the right to make her own health care decisions.

“It is time to enshrine the protections of Roe v. Wade in law. We cannot wait any longer.”

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