Today, the U.S. Supreme Court gave the Trump administration the go-ahead to implement a dangerous attempt to allow supervisors to deny (open in new tab) contraceptive care to their employees. The decision came shortly after the Court ruled in June Medical Services, LLC v. Russo, striking down Louisiana's anti-selective clinic closure law (open in new tab).

The lawsuit was a narrow victory for abortion access in Louisiana, but thanks to renewed interest in the court and its impact on reproductive rights, it has prompted alarming headlines about its implications for the crucial 2020 election. The two lawsuits underscore the dire threat President Donald Trump poses to both reproductive rights (sexual and reproductive freedom) and the integrity of the federal judiciary. But it may not be the threat you think it is.

President Trump is no visionary when it comes to undermining our basic freedoms. As a matter of fact, he is merely a puppet of the radical right's decades-long plan to fix white patriarchal power by suppressing democracy and advancing their agenda through the takeover of the courts. The threat is a group of ultra-conservative, mostly white activists who promote dangerous ideologies and wield disinformation indiscriminately in order to gain more power.

When the courts upheld the Trump administration's reckless attack on access to contraception, the radical right got their way, with far-reaching implications for our fundamental rights. To begin with, when the right and their puppet elected officials go after contraception, they have shown their hand. It is clear what their unpopular agenda really is: to gain more power, control women, and maintain the white patriarchal status quo. Make no mistake, our reproductive freedom is at stake.

Indeed, the court's decision in June striking down Louisiana's clinic-closing law in Health Services is a victory for reproductive freedom in the United States, and for the people of Louisiana, at least for now, access to the time-sensitive and critical health care they need can be maintained. Had the Court's anti-choice majority allowed the state's medically unnecessary clinic closure law to go into effect, abortion access in the state would have been devastated. Thanks to a web of anti-choice regulations, access to abortion in the state is already severely restricted. There are only a few clinics left in Louisiana, and if any were forced to close, access to abortion in Louisiana would have been nearly impossible for many.

The outcome of June Medical Services LLC v. Russo was made possible by Justice John Roberts siding with the majority, but it is clear that he is not on our side. He even stated that he still disagrees with the 2014 decision in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, which found identical clinic closure regulations in Texas to be unconstitutional.

These cases show that while we may see small victories to appease us, we should not become complacent. After all, Justice Roberts concurred in the June Medical Services opinion, opening the door for anti-choice, anti-liberty politicians to redouble their efforts to undermine access to abortion care. And two of President Trump's chosen justices, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, showed us exactly where they stand by voting against our fundamental rights in both cases. We need no further evidence to know that these judges pose a threat to reproductive freedom.

In many ways, these cases are emblematic of the situation we find ourselves in today. The radical right's use of abortion as a Trojan horse to provide cover for its right-wing agenda to suppress democracy is far from over. As I explain in my new book, The Lie That Binds, co-authored with Ellie Langford, Research Director of NARAL Pro-Choice America, this is the untold story we desperately need to hear. To counter this insidious decades-long campaign to undermine our basic freedoms, we must open our eyes to the threat.

The radical right has been working relentlessly and systematically for decades to build infrastructure through conservative groups like the Federalist Society (open in new tab), secretly stack the federal judiciary, and take over the Supreme Court. We must address the disastrous effects of the lifetime judicial appointments they have orchestrated for decades. That is why we must rise up and put an end to this.

While all of our rights are at stake, this is a dire issue for women and communities of color. Women of color are constantly suffering more (open in new tab) from reproductive and other injustices and oppressions. That is why white women concerned about reproductive freedom have a responsibility to recognize that racism is embedded in these attacks and to work harder than ever to redouble their efforts to make 2020 count.

As Americans who value our democracy and freedom, this year's election is more important than any previous era we have lived through. We must not only defeat Trump, the living embodiment of the deal with the devil made by the anti-election campaign, but we must overturn the Senate and take up Mitch McConnell's gavel. [We must vote out politicians like Senators Susan Collins, Tom Tillis, Joni Ernst, Cory Gardner, and Lindsey Graham who will rubber stamp Trump's agenda. They must know that their votes to confirm Kavanaugh to the Court and entrench an anti-choice, anti-freedom majority on the Court have sealed their fate. And by taking back these seats, we can work to pass important federal legislation like the Women's Health Protection Act and the EACH Woman Act that will protect and expand our reproductive freedom.

This week's ruling in the birth control case makes clear that we cannot rely on the Supreme Court to protect our reproductive freedom. And while the Medical Services v. Russo decision handed down in June gave us a small reprieve from the relentless assault on reproductive freedom, it also gave us another chance to fight another day. That day will come this November.