NIRH Condemns Confirmation of Barrett to Supreme Court; Calls for State Action to Protect Abortion Access

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 26, 2020
Contact: Kelly Novak, [email protected]

With Roe v. Wade in serious danger, states and localities must protect and expand access to abortion care

New York – The National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH) and NIRH Action Fund condemned the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court Monday night, highlighting now-Justice Barrett’s extreme ideology as grave threats to abortion access, gender justice, racial justice, economic justice, and LGBTQ rights. With abortion rights and access in the hands of an anti-abortion majority on the Supreme Court, it has never been more critical for state and local governments to shore up access to reproductive health care, including abortion.

“This confirmation has been an ideologically-driven sham, every step of the way – in the midst of a pandemic and rushed through during an election cycle,” said Andrea Miller, president of NIRH and its Action Fund. “This confirmation unequivocally alters the balance of our nation’s highest court against abortion rights and access, setting it on a collision course with the needs and the will of the vast majority of this country.”

Abortion access is ultimately decided is in state government — which is also a place where voters have powerful and direct influence. Roe v. Wade made abortion legal across the country, a decision that voters consistently support and want to see upheld. Yet, since then, state legislatures have enacted more than 1,200 laws that dictate the parameters for access to abortion — onerous and medically unjustified laws that delay abortion care, make it more expensive, close clinics, and generally push abortion care out of reach.

“We must be forward-looking and resolute in our fight to keep abortion accessible by leveraging state and local power – which is why at NIRH, we have always been laser-focused on protecting and advancing reproductive freedom on the state and local levels,” Miller continued. “This state-by-state fight may be long and painstaking, but it is also absolutely necessary. It will not only establish the laws and policies we need, it will create the public investment and political accountability to sustain them. States — and voters – must step up and safeguard rights and secure access to reproductive health care. And NIRH will continue to build political power with advocates, organizations, and elected officials in states to protect and advance reproductive freedom.”

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The National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH) and the National Institute for Reproductive Health Action Fund (NIRH Action Fund) are advocacy groups that fight to protect and advance access to reproductive health care and build political power for reproductive freedom. They work hand-in-hand with reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations in states and cities across the country to build coalitions, launch campaigns, change policy, and elect candidates who stand up for everyone’s right to control their reproductive lives. Their strategy is to go on the offensive to pass laws that safeguard reproductive freedom. They work in the communities where change is needed, so the fabric of reproductive freedom becomes harder to tear apart.