According to tonight’s reporting, the Supreme Court will soon overturn Roe v. Wade, leaving laws regarding abortion access up to the states. Because of laws passed by our Republican legislature, abortion services will be illegal in Alabama - a felony that could force doctors to face up to 99 years in prison for providing medical care to their patients.
Yet again, Republican legislators and appointed judges think they should be sitting between you and your doctor while making medical decisions.
Republican politicians will claim this is a win for “life” in a state with high infant mortality rates, a Black maternal mortality crisis, and countless other public health crises. They refuse to expand Medicaid, providing free lifesaving healthcare access to Alabama families - or do anything else that actually sanctifies life for Alabamians. Now, their law will block abortion access in Alabama, negatively affecting women with the fewest resources the most.
Some of our nation’s most consequential laws are written in state legislatures. This challenge started in the halls of the Mississippi legislature, and Democrats must remember this example of why local elections must be a central focus. What happens every day in Jackson or Montgomery can have national implications.
While the Alabama Republican supermajority keeps trying to turn the clock back decades on our freedoms - Alabama Democrats and our 2022 candidates will defend Alabamians’ freedom to make their own medical decisions - especially their right to abortion. In the meantime, we need Democrats in Washington to act and pass laws that protect abortion access for all Americans.