Statement from URGE on One Year After the Dobbs Decision
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, closing the door on federal abortion protections. The decision to overturn 50 years of legal precedent by gutting the right to abortion opened the floodgates for state-level attacks. Immediately following, more than a dozen abortion bans went into effect — eliminating health care options for millions of people across the country. This erasure of reproductive autonomy is part of a larger ideological and political attack on abortion access, transgender young people and democracy.
Reflecting on the one-year commemoration of the Dobbs decision, Kimberly Inez McGuire, Executive Director of URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity, said:
“The loss of legal abortion in almost half the country has created a public health and human rights crisis, and, sadly, we don’t expect it to end anytime soon.
“Across huge swaths of the country, particularly in the South and Midwest, clinics have closed, and many people are traveling hundreds or thousands of miles for care. New data indicates that up to half of abortion seekers are not traveling for care, either choosing to self-manage their abortions or being forced to continue a pregnancy against their will. While self-managed abortion is safe, effective and an essential option, it may bring risks of criminalization, particularly for young, low-income and BIPOC folks.
“URGE is fighting back by joining forces with our reproductive justice movement partners and allies to build young people power and keep abortion legal wherever we can. We helped secure legal abortion access in Kansas last year, and now we’re fighting in Ohio, Georgia and beyond to stop abortion bans in their tracks. We’re making sure the abortion pill is available and free on college campuses in California. And we’re spreading the word about safe and effective self-managed abortion because no young person should have to leave their state or spend thousands of dollars to access a basic human right. We all deserve justice at home.
“This is going to be a long fight, but we are undaunted. We will keep fighting to build a future of young people’s liberatory imaginings, including full and free abortion access, safety and dignity for trans people, a thriving democracy and so much more.”
