AUDIO/VIDEO: Wyden Stands Up for Women’s Access to Constitutionally Protected Health Care
U.S. Supreme Court to hear oral arguments tomorrow in case of Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today called for an end to continued attacks on the constitutional right of American women to make their own reproductive health choices.
Ahead of Supreme Court oral arguments in a case that represents a comprehensive challenge to Roe v. Wade, Wyden warned against the far-reaching impacts of new state laws that undermine a woman’s protected right to make her own choices about her body, in a speech on the Senate floor.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments tomorrow in the case of Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, which addresses the impact of Texas’s 2013 extreme anti-abortion law, known as HB2. The law imposes on doctors and clinics burdensome and unnecessary restrictions that are designed to make it harder for women to exercise their constitutionally protected reproductive rights.
“A limit on the exercise of a woman’s right is a limit of the right itself,” Wyden said. “It is wrong and it is un-American to restrict a person’s right because it conflicts with your views. Texas HB2 should be struck down, the rights guaranteed to women following Roe v. Wade should be protected just like every other constitutional right, and the ongoing crusade against women’s health ought to end here and it ought to end now.”
In January, Wyden and 162 other members of Congress filed an amicus brief to Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole. The amicus brief highlights how extreme state laws like HB2 have worked to erode women’s constitutionally protected health care rights, and urges the Supreme Court to continue to uphold women’s rights as affirmed under Roe v. Wade and protected under Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
Read the amicus brief here.
Watch video of Wyden's floor speech here and find audio here.
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