Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–June 2, 2016. 137 state leaders from Arizona to Texas have signed an open letter expressing their support for a woman’s access safe and legal abortion. Specifically, the legislators have expressed their support for four of their colleagues–the Honorable Wendy Davis (D) of Texas, Teresa Fedor (D) of Ohio, Lucy Flores (D) of Nevada, and Judy Nicastro (D) of Washington State— who filed a friend-of-the-court brief earlier this year in our Supreme Court challenge to Texas’ clinic shutdown law.
Davis, Fedor, Flores, and Nicastro joined an unprecedented collection of diverse and influential U.S. organizations and individuals who filed 45 amicus curiae briefs urging the Supreme Court to reject Texas’ clinic shutdown law and once again affirm longstanding precedent by upholding a woman’s constitutional right to access safe and legal abortion services. A decision in the case—Whole Woman’s Health vHellerstadt– is expected before the Supreme Court’s term ends later this month.
Today’s letter notes that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Whole Woman’s Health “will have an impact well beyond Texas’ borders” as many other states have enacted clinic shutdown laws similar to Texas’. The letter also details the importance of the challenge to Texas’ clinic shutdown law, noting a decision in the case “may shape the landscape of abortion access in the United States for generations to come.”
Said Wisconsin State Representative Chris Taylor (D):
“From shutting women’s health facilities to making women jump through hoop after hoop to access the health care theneed, politicians are playing politics with women’s health and lives. It is a very dangerous game with devastating real world consequences for women and families. Every woman should have the ability to access reproductive health care, not just women in certain zip codes.”
Said New York State Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas (D):
“I was proud to sign this letter, to stand with these four courageous elected officials in the fight to protect women’s freedom of choice. If we lose this case, we as a society are taking a step backwards and other states will be emboldened to pass restrictive legislation. Instead, we need to blaze a trail towards real freedom of choice throughout the country.”
Said New York State Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon (D):
“From my experience counseling women through their abortion procedures, I know that women are more than capable of directing their reproductive health care decisions. I commend my legislative colleagues Wendy Davis, Rep. Teresa Fedor, Lucy Flores, and Judy Nicastro for their courage standing up for women everywhere. Reproductive rights are human rights… I will do everything I can to continue this work in the New York State Assembly.”
Source: http://www.reproductive rights.org
