From: Steve Jasper
Columbus
The Supreme Court has just done what it has been expected to do. It has overturned Roe v. Wade. This ruling reverses court precedent in place for almost 50 years, which recognized a woman’s constitutional right to make decisions about her reproductive health, including the right to an abortion.
These reproductive decisions should be made by the woman in consultation with her doctor and her family. As a result of this ruling, that will no longer be an option for many women. The woman’s opinion no longer matters. Her doctor’s opinion no longer matters. There is no choice.
And the Supreme Court may not be finished with this unprecedented attack on individual rights and personal freedom. Justice Clarence Thomas in his concurring opinion stated that the Supreme Court “should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents,” which codified rights to contraception access, same-sex relationships, same-sex marriage, and interracial marriage.
This ruling very likely will embolden some state legislatures to further test rollbacks on these established individual rights. On the abortion issue, national polls consistently demonstrate that there exists a clear majority in this country in favor of legal abortion. In a recent poll (March 2022) from the Pew Research Center, a well-respected national polling organization, 61% of those polled stated that abortion should be legal in all or most cases and 37% stated that abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. This is the greatest difference in these two positions since this organization began polling on this issue in 1995. The differences were particularly dramatic in the polling of women (63% vs. 35%) and young adults ages 18 to 29 (74% vs. 25%).
If the court has determined that a woman’s access to reproductive care is now a state matter, then the focus for citizens who believe in protecting that right should be squarely on elections for the Indiana General Assembly. Two of our local representatives, Sen. Greg Walker and Rep. Ryan Lauer, have been quoted as saying they are “open” to a total ban on abortion. No exceptions for rape. No exceptions for incest. No exceptions for the health of the woman.
If you believe in standing up for a woman’s right to make these most personal of decisions, then get involved in elections. Write letters to your legislator. Attend town halls and ask hard questions. Write letters to the editor. Contribute to campaigns of candidates who believe in protecting established rights, not gutting them. March. Picket. And above all, vote. Those who believe that abortion should be legal are in the clear majority, but that means nothing if those beliefs are not translated into votes.
Editor’s note: This letter is paid political content. It is not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
