WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Member of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care, today released the following statement on the state of abortion care and reproductive rights in America, four years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade:
“The erosion of reproductive freedom in America didn’t happen overnight. In exchange for the vote of the far-right, then-candidate Donald Trump promised to appoint justices to the Supreme Court that would help him limit access to health care and reproductive freedom for millions of women. For the first time in our history, women have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers. In the four years since the highest court in the land ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, our worst fears have come true. The Dobbs decision was only the beginning of attacks on abortion and reproductive health care.
“Republican state legislatures used the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision to cut off access to abortion care, and in many cases, outlaw it completely. Republicans in Congress went after reproductive freedom in every way they could, including cutting off funding for clinics that offer abortion care and other essential health services. As the leader of HHS, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has weaponized FDA’s safety review process for abortion medication and undermined telemedicine access for patients seeking abortion care.
“The rapid decline in access to abortion care in America is a public health crisis. Women deserve a Congress that will stand up for their right to make decisions about their health. We need immediate protections that protect women’s reproductive rights and restore abortion access nationwide.”
President Trump appointed three of the Supreme Court Justices who ruled in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case to overturn Roe v. Wade and nearly 50 years of precedent. Since Dobbs, at least 20 states have enacted near-total or restrictive bans to prevent women from being able to access abortion, leaving over 62 million women and girls without or restricted access to safe, legal abortion care. Additionally, state legislatures across the country have introduced hundreds of bills to include medically unnecessary restrictions that limit access to abortion care.
In his second term, President Trump has continued to attack reproductive rights, including freezing funding for clinics that offer reproductive care, rolling back Biden-era emergency abortion protections, pardoning anti-abortion extremists, attempting to restrict access to abortion medication like Mifepristone, and defunding Planned Parenthood at the federal level.
Senator Welch joined every Senate Democrat in cosponsoring the Women’s Health Protection Act, legislation to guarantee access to abortion across the country and restore the right to comprehensive reproductive health care for millions of Americans. The Senator is also a cosponsor of legislation reaffirming the safety and efficacy of Mifepristone.
###