Earlier Today, Pressley Urged Biden to Declare Public Health Emergency Amid
Unprecedented Assault on Abortion Rights

WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Chair of the Pro Choice Caucus’ Abortion Rights and Access Task Force, issued the following statement on the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

“Today is a dark day in our nation’s history and this decision is a devastating confirmation of what Black and brown reproductive justice organizers have been sounding the alarms about for years: this Court will stop at nothing to strip away our reproductive freedom and our fundamental human right to bodily autonomy.

“By obliterating the right to abortion across the nation, this extreme decision will push legal abortion care out of reach for our most vulnerable and exacerbate multiple public health crises, like the Black maternal mortality crisis. Let me be clear: by restricting abortion access, this Court is putting the health of the most vulnerable people at risk and we must use every tool, at every level of government, to protect reproductive rights and save lives.

“President Biden must recognize this as the public health emergency that it is and commit to utilizing every executive authority necessary to protect abortion access, including expanding access to medication abortion and over-the-counter-birth control, and protect the safety of those seeking and providing abortion care. States including Massachusetts have taken steps to become havens for those seeking necessary abortion care and I encourage other states to follow suit.

“Abortion care is still legal in Massachusetts, and I urge residents to continue seeking care if they need it. To the millions of people whose rights have been stolen overnight due to the cruelty and callousness of this extreme Supreme Court, know that this fight is not over. The Senate must abolish the filibuster and pass the Women’s Health Protection Act into law. We must expand the court to restore its integrity. I won’t stop fighting for policies and budgets that affirm abortion care as the fundamental human right that it is.”

Earlier today, Rep. Pressley led her Black women colleagues in writing to President Biden urging him to declare a public health emergencyamid the unprecedented threats to abortion rights nationwide.

Rep. Pressley is a lead co-sponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), bicameral federal legislation to guarantee equal access to abortion care, everywhere. 

In her time serving in Congress, Congresswoman Pressley has fought persistently to protect fundamental reproductive and sexual health care rights.

• Last year, Congresswoman Pressley, along with U.S. Representatives Judy Chu (D-CA), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Veronica Escobar (D-TX) and Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), introduced the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), bicameral federal legislation to guarantee equal access to abortion care, everywhere. Recently, she issued a statement condemning the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade., and implored the Senate to protect abortion rights and slammed the white supremacist roots of anti-abortion efforts.
• In September 2021, Rep. Pressley issued a statement condemning the Supreme Court’s inaction on SB-8, Texas’ restrictive abortion law. Later that month, she participated in a House Oversight Committee hearing to examine the threat posed by abortion bans and underscored the urgency of the Senate passing the Women’s Health Protection Act. 
• In April 2021, Rep. Pressley, along with Congresswomen Barbara Lee (CA-13), Diana DeGette (CO-01) and Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), led a group of 131 Democratic members in reintroducing the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance Act or the EACH Act, which would repeal the Hyde Amendment and ensure that all people, regardless of income, insurance or zip code, can make personal reproductive health care decisions without interference from politicians.
• As Chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus’s Abortion Rights and Access Task Force, Congresswoman Pressley has led the fight to repeal the Hyde Amendments from annual Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bills and in July 2020 published a Medium post on the importance of doing so. The amendment was
• In May 2020, she led more than 155 Members of Congress in calling on House Democratic leadership to ensure that any future COVID-19 relief packages rejected Republican efforts to use the public health crisis to diminish abortion access.
• In May 2019, she led more than 100 colleagues in introducing H.Con.Res.40, a resolution reaffirming the House of Representative’s support for Roe v. Wade. 
• In June 2019, Rep. Pressley introduced H.R. 3296, the Affordability is Access Act, to make oral contraception available without a prescription. 
• In September 2016, as a member of the Boston City Council, Pressley championed a resolution calling on Congress and President Obama to repeal the Hyde Amendment and reinstate insurance coverage for abortion services. 

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