WASHINGTON — After last week’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) has yet to publicly comment on the decision, but cheered on the destruction of reproductive freedom in fundraising emails to their base. Republicans know that attacking abortion access is a losing issue, with a majority of Americans supporting the protections that Roe granted. The RSLC and state Republicans are deeply out of step with the American people, mounting a war on fundamental rights that will come back to haunt them this fall.
“Republican attacks on abortion access are so unpopular, the RSLC won’t even tweet about it,” DLCC vice president of communications Gabrielle Chew said. “State legislatures are now the last line of defense for abortion rights, and Democrats are fighting to protect reproductive rights across the country. The facts couldn’t be clearer — every Democratic-majority legislature has moved to codify or expand abortion rights while Republicans continue to push their extremist agenda on Americans. This fall, we will do everything we can to hold the RSLC and their extremist Republicans accountable for this dangerous and deeply unpopular attack on our rights.”
While millions are now at risk of medical complications, heightened financial burdens, and death, here is what the RSLC had to say in response to last week’s decision:
Abortion is expected to become illegal in up to 26 states either because of pre-existing abortion bans on the books or because of Republican-controlled legislatures that are hostile to abortion rights. While the landscape is rapidly shifting, at the time of this writing abortion was effectively banned in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Dakota. In at least 14 states, abortion access will disappear within a month. Democrats in 16 states and Washington, D.C. have explicitly protected the right to an abortion. The DLCC has launched the “States to Save Roe” campaign to help Democrats and the DLCC fight back against Republican attacks on abortion rights by electing state Democrats and protecting Democratic chambers that serve as a firewall for access to reproductive health care and services.
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