We are outraged. We are heartbroken. And now we must take action. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s devastating opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Statement, striking down the constitutional right to abortion, we encourage everyone to take action and make your voices heard now with protest and advocacy and in November with the ballot. We need to urgently support abortion funds and resources where people are now most vulnerable to criminal prosecution and unsafe and inaccessible abortion services. As Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Breyer’s dissent stated clearly, this ruling will get women and people killed and incarcerated across the country.
Let’s also be clear: this is the direct result of the Trump administration’s packing of the court. This is a political ruling. This is a political decision from the extreme right to attack our bodies. The legacy of the Trump administration exists as an ugly stain on this nation’s judiciary—and that stain can only be lifted through expanding the court, reforming judicial powers to restore the integrity of the Court and electing fiercely pro-choice officials this election cycle and beyond.
Abortion is, was, and always will be a right that the state must protect. Bodily autonomy is fundamental to ALL of our dignity and safety as people. In that vein, we call on Democratic state governments to do all that is necessary to secure safe and legal abortion both for their residents and those out of state. Congress must bypass the Senate filibuster and codify a national right to abortion, as well as address the abused, politicized, and undemocratic power of judicial review, and expand the seats of the Supreme Court to take undue power away from this radical, right wing majority. The Biden Administration must act with all legal and financial tools to protect the right and access to abortion and to support states that are doing so. This moment of desperation calls for bold and creative solutions. When unelected officials abuse their power to take crucial rights away from the people, elected officials should wield the full extent of their power to protect the people and preserve those rights.
Sincerely,
The Harvard College Democrats Board