PHOENIX, JUNE 24, 2022 — Today is a dark day in America. Our worst fears have been realized with the reversal of protections afforded by Roe v. Wade.

The United States Supreme Court delivered the devastating blow in its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which strips Americans of their bodily autonomy by overturning Roe v. Wade.

This grossly unjust decision leaves American women with fewer rights than women in the vast majority of countries on earth. It’s clear that Republicans are fine telling women what to do with their bodies but not ok with someone else telling them what to do with their guns.

Reproductive health care is a fundamental human right.

To be sure, this shameful decision will not end abortions. It will end access to safe abortion providers in our nation. Pre-Roe, people seeking abortion risked exploitation, infection, mutilation, even death. Now, people of means will travel to obtain safe abortions, while people without resources will be trapped in government-mandated pregnancy or suffer the risks inherent in backroom abortions.

I have been fighting for the fundamental human right to abortion since the Hyde Amendment was first proposed in 1976, and I will not back down now. I’m going to continue to fight to protect your right to privacy and bodily autonomy and access to safe abortion providers.

It’s clear, the immediate future of reproductive healthcare in Arizona now depends on who we elect to our state legislature and our state attorney general and county attorney offices.

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Representative Jennifer Longdon is the Arizona House Assistant Democratic Leader and represents Arizona legislative district 24 (now LD5). For more information see www.jenforaz.com.

Please direct any media inquiries to Eric Chalmers: ericc@strategies360.com.