Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today released the following statement on the leaked draft Supreme Court majority opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade:
“The Republican party has set the stage for a total erosion of Americans’ constitutional rights. They have made clear they won’t stop at gutting the right for a woman to make decisions about her own body. Republicans know that the majority of Americans don’t support eroding fundamental rights like privacy, so instead, they packed the Supreme Court with right-wing extremists willing to do their dirty work behind closed doors,” said Wyden. “This is a five alarm fire. If this is the final decision, the United States will be one of a handful of countries in the world moving backwards on women’s rights. The overturning of Roe would mark a devastating loss of constitutionally guaranteed bodily autonomy and privacy for more than half of America. Let me be clear: abortion is health care. Ending this protected and established right — a right generations of women have now known and that the overwhelming majority of Americans support — would harm the health, safety, and lives of millions of women and families. This is going to be the fight of our lives, and we must use every tool at our disposal to stop this attack on constitutionally guaranteed rights.”
A web version of this memorandum is here.