UltraViolet Applauds Reintroduction of Women’s Health Protection Act, Urges Congress to Pass Bill Without Delay
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 8, 2021
CONTACT: Anna Zuccaro | anna@unbendablemedia.com
UltraViolet Applauds Reintroduction of Women’s Health Protection Act, Urges Congress to Pass Bill Without Delay
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Congress reintroduced the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), a bill that would guarantee the reproductive rights recognized by the Supreme Court since 1973 in the case Roe v. Wade. If enacted, the bill would guarantee reproductive rights at the federal level, safeguarding basic healthcare options from any Supreme Court or lower court decisions.
In response, Sonja Spoo, Director of Reproductive Rights Campaigns at UltraViolet, a leading national women’s advocacy organization, issued the following statement:
“Passing the Women’s Health Protection Act is a deeply necessary and long overdue step toward gender, racial and economic justice in America.
“For generations, we have endured relentless efforts by anti-choice politicans and right-wing exremist groups to eliminate abortion state-by-state and law-by-law. These efforts have prevented people from accessing essential and basic forms of healthcare like abortion care.
“In the first five months of 2021 alone, lawmakers in four states passed bans on abortion at 6 weeks of pregnancy, before many people even know they’re pregnant at all. In Arkansas and Oklahoma, lawmakers tried to ban abortion completely. The implications are wide ranging and devastating, especially for women of color and anyone living in poverty.
“The Women’s Health Protection Act is a crucial federal safeguard against the erosion of abortion access by medically unnecessary restrictions and bans. Passing this bill means creating non-negotiable access to reproductive healthcare, no matter the state. The Women’s Health Protection Act would keep our constitutional right to abortion in tact, regardless of whether the Supreme Court guts Roe v. Wade or state governments pass legislation restricting reproductive rights.
“Enacting this bill would be a landmark step toward creating a nation in which every person – regardless of who they are or where they’re from – is free to make the best health care decisions for themselves. We urge Congress to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act without delay.”
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