They target our right to make our own decisions about our lives, our families, and our future.

The anti-choice movement, whose agenda is to end access to abortion care and make access to reproductive health care (including contraception and even in vitro fertilization) more difficult, has implemented an intensive and deliberate strategy to slowly but surely chip away at our rights through state legislatures and courts. They have implemented an intensive and deliberate strategy to slowly but surely chip away at our rights through state legislatures and the courts.

This year, they are aiming for their long-held goal of overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, a landmark decision recognizing a constitutional right to abortion.

This year has already been the worst year for attacks on abortion access since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. State legislators hostile to abortion have introduced, promoted, and passed more than 315 bills to undermine access to abortion since 2021 began, with no sign of slowing down. 2021 has seen more than 90 bills enacted at the state level that would restrict access to abortion.

And now, as the Supreme Court prepares to hear the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (regarding Mississippi's unconstitutional law banning almost all abortions after 15 weeks), 228 U.S. Senators and Representatives have filed two major cases on abortion rights, "Roe v. Wade" and Planned Parenthood v. Casey," and submitted a brief to the Court stating that the case "should be reconsidered and, if necessary, overturned in whole or in part."

This was just one week after Mississippi filed its opening brief, clearly suggesting that the Court should overturn Roe.

This moment is the culmination of decades of activism by those hostile to our fundamental freedoms. The anti-choice movement has spun a sinister web of laws that are intricately intertwined with each other, increasing the cost of health care until it becomes unaffordable, closing clinics that may never open again, and stigmatizing both those who receive care and the doctors who provide it. A ban like Mississippi's would likely make it impossible for those who need to end their pregnancies. The state already has only one abortion clinic, and there are multiple barriers that actually delay access to care. These barriers to care will most severely impact those who already face the highest barriers in accessing care, including Blacks, Native Americans, other people of color, LGBTQ, and low-income people.

Across the United States, we are witnessing a veritable avalanche of regulations, seemingly culminating now as the Supreme Court prepares to hear a case that could end the constitutional right to abortion in America.

While we do not know exactly what the Supreme Court will decide, there is certainly no path to upholding Mississippi's 15-week ban without either overturning the Supreme Court's decision in Roe or striking it down entirely. Previous cases have considered laws aimed at closing abortion clinics or further distancing access to abortion. Previous state bans have been struck down by the courts because they clearly violated Roe v. Wade. It is highly problematic that the Supreme Court agreed to hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Thanks to the handiwork of Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and Senate Republicans, the Court has a super majority of anti-choice justices hostile to reproductive freedom and abortion access.

If Roe were to fall, it would have a devastating effect on women and pregnant people across the United States. At least 24 states would take steps to ban abortion altogether. Twelve states, including Mississippi, already have "trigger bans," which would automatically ban abortion if Roe is overturned.

The reality is that abortion rights in this country are hanging by a thread, and anti-choice legislators want to eliminate them entirely. The American people, however, do not believe so. Polls show that 77% of Americans support Roe v. Wade, and there is no state in the country where banning abortion is popular. The efforts of these legislators are contrary to the values of the majority of Americans, the very people they were elected to represent.

That is why it is time for all of us to work to secure our fundamental rights. We must call on our congressional leaders to pass the Women's Health Protection Act, an important piece of legislation that protects the federal right to abortion care from prohibitions and medically unnecessary restrictions. If abortion clinics are forced to close in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision, those in need of abortion care will have few places to turn.

Elected officials are clearly mandated by their constituents to protect the legal right to abortion. By signing this brief, anti-choice legislators are blatantly subverting the will of the overwhelming majority of Americans who support reproductive freedom. But we have already mobilized our 2.5 million members to hold politicians accountable at the ballot box by asking them to vote for pro-choice candidates and protesting anti-choice candidates. We are not going to stand idly by and watch as extremists work overtime to deprive us of our reproductive freedoms.

We are fighting for a world where each of us has the freedom to dream and live our best lives. We want a world where every family and community has everything they need to thrive. We cannot and will not stand idly by and watch these anti-choice politicians succumb to extremist pressure to double down on their interference in our personal decisions and set back generations of work.