The “Dobbs” decision is an devastating rollback of human rights
Today, a stacked and politicized U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to overturn Roe and Casey. While we want to be clear that abortion is still legal in North Carolina and this decision does not have an immediate legal impact on the availability of abortion in our state, it sends a chilling message that our most fundamental rights are on the line. Today’s decision is the culmination of years of undemocratic and underhanded efforts by anti-abortionists to stack the Court with justices who would overturn legal access to abortion. Today a majority on the U.S. Supreme Court stripped us of our fundamental right, and this is a devastating loss for reproductive freedom.
Once again, we want North Carolinians to know abortion is still legal in our state. There are fourteen abortion clinics across North Carolina that provide compassionate abortion care for patients. Today’s ruling is devastating, but it is not the end of our fight for reproductive freedom in North Carolina.
Anti-abortion lawmakers in our General Assembly have spent decades methodically drafting and passing medically unnecessary and politically motivated laws to take away our access to abortion. They have introduced inflammatory and medically false bills to attack abortion patients and abortion providers and to deceive the public about the realities of reproductive health care. They have created a landscape of barriers and undue burdens, all designed to control the health, bodies, and lives of women, pregnant people, and families across North Carolina.
Yet advocates in North Carolina have held the line for abortion access, making our state one of the few in the southeast that will still have abortion care regardless of this devastating decision. Despite gerrymandering and voter suppression that leave us with a General Assembly that does not represent the majority of North Carolinians, since 2016 we have stopped every proposed abortion restriction from becoming law. While today’s Supreme Court decision is a setback, we will not stop fighting! In North Carolina, we are one election away from losing the right to abortion, and that election is this November. We must keep fighting, because there is too much at stake, especially for young people, Black people, Indigenous people, People of Color, people of lower income, rural communities, LGBTQ+ communities, and immigrants, who will be and are most impacted by harmful abortion restrictions and bans.
Pro-Choice North Carolina and our allies will continue fighting to defend and advance abortion and reproductive rights in North Carolina. We will keep fighting to protect people who access abortion and people who provide abortion from criminalization. We are the majority, and we will not stop fighting for abortion access and reproductive freedom for all!