June 29, 2022

Merkley, Wyden Join Murray and Colleagues in Letter to President Biden Urging for Bold and Immediate Action to Protect Abortion Access in a Post-Roe America

Senators to POTUS: “You have the power to fight back and lead a national response to this devastating decision, so we call on you to take every step available to your Administration, across federal agencies, to help women access abortions and other reproductive health care, and to protect those who will face the harshest burdens from this devastating and extreme decision.”

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden joined Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and 31 Democratic Senators in a letter to President Joe Biden pushing for bold action to protect the right to abortion after the Supreme Court released their final opinion in the case of?Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, effectively changing the precedent set by?Roe v. Wade?and forever changing the right to abortion for Americans.

“Now is the time for bold action to protect the right to an abortion. You have the power to fight back and lead a national response to this devastating decision, so we call on you to take every step available to your Administration, across federal agencies, to help women access abortions and other reproductive health care, and to protect those who will face the harshest burdens from this devastating and extreme decision,”?wrote the Senators. 

The letter comes as 22 states have trigger ban laws in place to restrict access that are trigged by the courts’ decision. Right wing conservatives have made clear they will not stop with overturning Roe: next, they will push for a national abortion ban. Former Vice President Mike Pence even said last week that Republicans “must not rest and must not relent” until abortion rights are gone in “every state in the land.” 

“There is no time to waste: nearly half of the states already had laws in place to ban abortion or severely restrict access as soon as the Supreme Court decision came down. Many states enacted those laws immediately, and at least a dozen are set to follow suit in the coming days and weeks. Those laws will leave millions of Americans without access to essential reproductive health care. The chilling reality is that our daughters and granddaughters now have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers. Women across the country are now being told by states what choices they can and cannot make when it comes to their own health and reproductive choices.? This is dangerous and horrifying and it will endanger women’s lives,”?continued the Senators.?“We cannot stand idly by as Republicans rip away women’s rights. And we know they will not stop with this decision—they are already eyeing a national abortion ban.” 

In addition to Senators Merkley, Wyden and Murray, the letter was signed by Senators Markey (D-MA), Hirono (D-HI), Heinrich (D-NM), Gillibrand (D-NY), Blumenthal (D-CT), Rosen (D-NV), Duckworth (D-IL), Bennet (D-CO), Brown (D-OH), Warren (D-MA), Klobuchar (D-MN), Schatz (D-HI), Van Hollen (D-MD), Hassan (D-NH), Reed (D-RI), Kaine (D-VA), Smith (D-MN), Cortez Masto (D-NV), Murphy (D-CT), Carper (D-DE), Stabenow (D-MI), Kelly (D-AZ), Feinstein (D-CA), Hickenlooper (D-CO), Kaine (D-VA), Cantwell (D-WA), Sanders (I-VT), Shaheen (D-NH), Booker (D-NJ), Whitehouse (D-RI), Baldwin (D-WI), and Durbin (D-IL).