GLAD Responds to Shameful Supreme Court Ruling Overturning Roe v. Wade 

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Statement of GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders Executive Director Janson Wu 

“Every person in this country should be deeply alarmed by this shameful ruling, which is simply not normal and should be beyond the bounds of what is thinkable for the body entrusted to uphold our constitutional freedoms. A majority of Justices of the Supreme Court has overturned a half-century-old precedent protecting a vital individual right –  a right re-affirmed by this same Court as recently as six years ago – and held open the door for a return to dangerous government intrusion into our most personal decisions and freedoms.

There is no doubt this decision will have devastating consequences for millions of women and for anyone who can become pregnant. The consequences of restricting or completely banning abortion, as some states are poised to do, will fall hardest on people and families of color and those without the financial resources to travel out of state or seek alternative routes to care. This includes members of the LGBTQ community, who also get pregnant and need access to abortion care.

Today’s decision comes amid grave and escalating assaults on many fundamental liberties. We must rally together across all our communities to push back against these extreme assaults.  We will fight alongside our partners and at every level of state and federal government and in the courts for the right of transgender people to access life-saving healthcare and for parents’ basic right to seek that care for their transgender children; for the rights of LGBTQ students and students with LGBTQ families to be welcomed and included in schools; to protect the recognition of our relationships; to ensure stronger protections for LGBTQ families and all families; and for access to abortion, contraception and reproductive choice.”

Through strategic litigation, public policy advocacy, and education, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders works in New England and nationally to create a just society free of discrimination based on gender identity and expression, HIV status, and sexual orientation. www.glad.org