House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) believes Republicans will try to limit other “basic human rights” if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.
In a “Dear Colleague” letter on Monday, Pelosi said, “Last Monday, the Nation saw a draft of a Supreme Court decision that sadly would overturn Roe v. Wade, an action which is the culmination of Republicans’ decades-long crusade against women’s fundamental freedoms.
“With this draft ruling striking down the nearly fifty-year-old precedent of Roe v. Wade and undermining the Constitutional right to privacy, Republicans would rip away women’s right to make the most intimate and personal decisions. If handed down, this decision by GOP-appointed Justices would mean that, for the first time in our history, America’s daughters will have less freedom than their mothers,” she continued.
The California Democrat went:
“Republicans have made clear that their goal will be to seek to criminalize abortion nationwide. Republican state legislators across the country are already advancing extreme new laws, seeking to arrest doctors for offering reproductive care, ban abortion entirely with no exceptions, and even charge women with murder who exercise their right to choose. These draconian measures could even criminalize contraceptive care, in vitro fertilization and post-miscarriage care, dragging our nation back to a dark time decades into the past.”
Finally, Pelosi said, “Make no mistake: once Republicans have dispensed with precedent and privacy in overturning Roe, they will take aim at additional basic human rights. At this pivotal moment, the stakes for women – and every American – could not be higher.”
Read the letter below:
NEW: Speaker Pelosi releases “Dear Colleague” letter on SCOTUS draft opinion.
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) May 9, 2022
"If handed down, this decision by GOP-appointed Justices would mean that, for the first time in our history, America’s daughters will have less freedom than their mothers." https://t.co/nXkJFs3GVG pic.twitter.com/MPK7Zy1ILr
Last week, Politico published a story based on a draft opinion that appeared to show the Supreme Court is poised to overturn the landmark abortion decision Roe v. Wade.
Other prominent Democrats have made similar ominous warnings about what might happen if that decision holds.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told CBS News, “This opinion is dark. It is incredibly dangerous. And it is not just about a woman’s right to choose. It is about much more than that.”
“And any American who says, I’m not a woman this doesn’t affect me, I’m not Black that doesn’t affect me, I’m not gay that doesn’t affect me, once you allow this kind of extreme power to take hold, you have no idea who they will come for next,” she added.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris claimed in a statement, “The rights of all Americans are at risk. If the right to privacy is weakened, every person could face a future in which the government can potentially interfere in the personal decisions you make about your life. This is the time to fight for women and for our country with everything we have.”
This is the time to fight for women and our country with everything we have. My statement on the Supreme Court decision draft on Roe v. Wade. pic.twitter.com/5tvjOUTmZ2
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) May 3, 2022
Additionally, President Joe Biden told reporters, “You know, if this decision holds, it’s really a radical decision.”
He continued, “The underlying premise — and again I’ve not had a chance to thoroughly go into the decision — but it basically says all the decisions relating to your private life — who you marry, whether or not you decide to conceive a child or not, whether or not you can have an abortion, a range of other decisions, how you raise your child — what does this do?”
“Does this mean that in Florida, they can decide they’re going to pass a law saying that same-sex marriage is not permissible? It’s against the law in Florida. So, it’s a fundamental shift in American jurisprudence,” Biden added.
