NIRH Statement on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 1, 2021
Contact: Kelly Novak, [email protected]

Statement from Andrea Miller, National Institute for Reproductive Health:

“We’ve been sounding the alarm for decades, as anti-abortion politicians have been working overtime to decimate access to abortion, state by state, law by law. Now, the fate of access to abortion care—the bedrock of our ability to control our bodies, lives, and futures—sits in the hands of the conservative-majority Supreme Court. The Mississippi abortion ban is not an anomaly. It is part of a coordinated effort to chip away at our reproductive freedom until abortion is banned outright. Bans on abortion at any point in pregnancy are arbitrary—they are not based in science, medical practice, or evidence.  Perhaps most importantly, they ignore the reality of people’s lives, undermine their health, and deny the right to make the profound decision whether and when to become a parent.

“Laws like Mississippi’s 15-week ban cruelly deny access to essential health care to those needing it throughout their pregnancies for a variety of reasons, from changing life and health conditions or not knowing they’re pregnant, to facing barriers to care once they’ve decided to get an abortion. If the Supreme Court upholds the Mississippi abortion ban and overturns or severely weakens Roe, abortion could be banned or severely restricted in half of the country—particularly in the South and Midwest—further exacerbating the inequities in reproductive healthcare, with the impact falling hardest on Black, Indigenous, and people of color, people in rural areas, young people, immigrants, and other marginalized communities. This is completely out of step with the majority of voters in this country who believe access to abortion care should be legal and protected.”

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The National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH) is an advocacy group that works directly with state and local reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations and allied groups to protect and advance access to reproductive healthcare. For more than 40 years, NIRH has been partnering with communities to build coalitions, launch campaigns, and successfully advocate for policy change. NIRH’s strategy is to go on the offensive and focus on communities where change is needed, so the fabric of reproductive freedom becomes harder to tear apart.