Court Has Begun Its March to Overturn Roe (Rep. Carolyn Maloney)

When Justice Roberts and Justice Alito testified under oath in their confirmation hearings, they told us that they respected precedent.

In fact, Justice Roberts told Senator Feinstein that Casey, the 1992 case the upheld the central provisions of Roe was “entitled to respect like any other precedent of the court, under principles of stare decisis.”

Well, they lied.

Wednesday, the Court abandoned 30 years of precedent when they upheld a ban on a medical procedure for women without a health exception.

The Court has allowed the other side to take medical decisions out of the hands of doctors and has given them to politicians.

The Roberts Court has shown its hand, and we now know that this decision is most likely the beginning of what may be a rapid march towards overturning Roe.

Opponents have already mobilized to determine which new restrictions they can impose on the right to choose.

Justice Ginsburg wrote in her dissent that the decision “cannot be understood as anything other than an effort to chip away a right declared again and again by this Court.”

I have watched for years as opponents chipped away at the right to choose.

Wednesday they used a sledgehammer.

For far too long, extremists have dictated what rights women have in this country.

To ban a medical procedure for women without a health exception shows a complete disregard for women’s basic human rights.

Wednesday’s decision was disturbing for many of us, but we need to turn our disgust into action.

I want to thank my friends Rep. Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) for re-introducing this important bill.

Passing the Freedom of Choice Act is an important step towards reclaiming women’s rights from the hands of right-wing conservatives.

Women deserve better and our job will not be finished until women’s health and the right to choose are fully protected.