Hirono Joins Senate Democrats, Patients, Providers, Advocates to Mark 5oth Anniversary of Roe and Recommit to Fight for Reproductive Rights
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) joined several of her Senate Democratic colleagues and patients, providers, and leaders in the fight for reproductive rights to mark the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. During the press conference, Senator Hirono and her colleagues underscored their commitment to block House Republicans’ extreme antiabortion attacks and keep fighting to protect Americans’ reproductive rights and restore Roe once and for all.
“State legislatures all across the country have mobilized and extreme Republicans would like to make it that much harder to control our bodies,” said Senator Hirono during the press conference. “And they’re not just trying to ban abortion, but also to go after contraception, including emergency contraception.”
“Everyone should have access to, not just abortion and control of our own bodies, but to emergency contraception,” continued Senator Hirono. “We will continue to fight for a person’s right to control their own bodies—bodily autonomy.”
Exactly seven months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade—and just two days after what would have been the 50-year anniversary of Roe—Senator Hirono, along with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Tina Smith (D-MN), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) made clear Senate Democrats will continue fighting for everyone’s reproductive rights at every turn.
The Senators were joined by Mini Timmaraju, President of NARAL Pro-Choice America; Clare Coleman, President & CEO of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA); Kelley Huber, Planned Parenthood patient advocate; Dr. Serina Floyd, Chief Medical Officer for Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, D.C. (PPMW); and Monica Edwards from URGE (Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity), who shared how the Dobbs decision and Republicans’ attacks have hurt women and patients across the country.
A full transcript of Senator Hirono’s remarks is below and a link to download video is available here.
State legislatures all across the country have mobilized and extreme Republicans would like to make it that much harder to control our bodies. And they’re not just trying to ban abortion, but also to go after contraception, including emergency contraception.
Nine states have taken steps to restrain emergency contraception. So it’s not enough that they’re making it that much harder for us to control our bodies by being able to get an abortion, but we can’t even get emergency contraception in these states.
Everyone should have access to, not just abortion and control of our own bodies, but to emergency contraception and that is what is happening all across the country. And as I said, there are young people awakening to the fact that they have fewer rights than their mothers, their grandmothers, and they are going to mobilize just as I was mobilized around this issue. We will continue to fight for a person’s right to control their own bodies—bodily autonomy.
A long-time champion for abortion access, Senator Hirono is committed to protecting the fundamental right to abortion care for all. In August, she introduced the Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act to protect doctors against Republicans’ non-stop attacks and ensure they can safely provide abortion care in states where it is still legal. She also led a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services urging them to make medication abortion more easily accessible. In July, Senator Hirono introduced the Right to Contraception Act, as well as the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act, to protect access to critical reproductive health care services, like birth control, and cancer screenings. She also introduced the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act of 2022, which clarifies that it is illegal for anti-choice states to limit travel for abortion services, and would empower impacted individuals to bring civil action against those who restrict a woman’s right to cross state lines to receive legal reproductive care.
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