The Green Party of the United States has expressed alarm and calls to organize for the right to safe, legal and confidential access to abortions, following reports of a leaked draft Supreme Court majority opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade.

Green Party of the United States
www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
May 3, 2022

Contact:
Michael O'Neil, Communications Manager, [email protected], 202-804-2758
Diana C. Brown, Co-Chair, Media Committee, [email protected], 202-804-2758
Philena Farley, Co-Chair, Media Committee, [email protected], 202-804-2758

“This is an extremely disturbing decision from the Supreme Court,” said Green Party National Women’s Caucus Spokesperson Holly Hart. “It would overturn decades of understanding and policy that protected women’s privacy and health. If access to safe abortion is handed to state legislatures, we will see a greater erosion of access throughout the country. Tragically, some of the most severe limitations and hardships will fall on poor women, and women with health problems. Denying access to safe abortions in the past has done little or nothing to reduce their number. Instead, we can expect to see ‘destination clinics’ where women will have to travel. Those without resources will resort to ‘back-alley’ abortion providers,” said Hart.

The Green Party’s national platform calls choosing whether to have a child “intensely personal” and asserts the right to safe and legal access to abortion as “non-negotiable.” Greens call for a wide array of universally affordable and easily available contraceptive options for women and men. 

“Since 1973, the decision of Roe v. Wade has protected the right to have an abortion in the United States,” said Green Party National Women’s Caucus Co-Chair Ann Link. “If this decision is finalized, members of the Supreme Court will be violating their vow to uphold the Constitution to serve their own personal ideology. Along with setting a dangerous precedent with totalitarian implications, this decision would allow states to interfere in private and protected decisions that are essential to reproductive healthcare as a human right. On a more personal level, I feel a deep sadness that so many will no longer be free to make their own decisions on whether to continue or terminate a pregnancy,” said Link. 

Link argued that overturning Roe would be a profound violation of the 14th Amendment:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. 

Green Party leaders also note the draft decision could threaten rights even beyond abortion access. “This ruling’s references to Obergefell v. Hodges could, for example, create repercussions for marriage equality and LGBTQIA+ rights,” said Green Party National Co-Chair Garret Wassermann. “It is necessary to organize and elect candidates who will protect and expand these kinds of hard-won rights while democratizing our institutions to ensure they are not under the constant threat of revocation,” said Wassermann.

MORE INFORMATION

Roe v. Wade

14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Green Party Platform on Reproductive Rights

Green Party of the United States

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