Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade
Last week’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade will usher in a United States not seen in half a century, with Americans no longer having the constitutional right to control their own reproductive choices.
In a 5-4 vote, powered by its conservative majority, the high court stripped away a well established fundamental right for millions – triggering 13 states to immediately ban abortions after its ruling.
- Abortion is still legal and safe in North Carolina. However, state Republicans are following their GOP counterparts in other states, expressing controversial opinions and their intentions to strip away reproductive health care access from North Carolinians.
- To protect abortion rights within North Carolina, state Democrats have proposed House Bill 1119 and Senate Bill 888, to ensure North Carolinians can legally access abortion and remove barriers such as bans on insurance coverage of abortion and ban on telemedicine for medication abortion.
- Abortion is just the first of many rights Republicans want to take down. In his concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas called for overruling decisions legalizing the right to obtain contraception, same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage.
Time and again, Republicans have shown that they will do the opposite of what the people they represent want. With this court’s decision, the interests of protecting reproductive rights were ignored, as a majority of Americans supported upholding Roe v. Wade.
For North Carolina, reproductive rights and many others are on the ballot. This upcoming election will be more important than ever, as extremist Republican politicians across the state attempt to strip away reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ rights, underfund our public schools and deny health care access to those who need it the most.
While Republican leaders continue to demonstrate what they will do if they gain a super majority, in November, North Carolinians will have the opportunity at the ballot box to demonstrate how out of touch state Republicans are with the interests of the people.
