The 51st Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

On January 22nd, 1973, the Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, protecting a woman’s right to choose. Roe stood until Supreme Court Justices appointed by Donald Trump struck it down. Today, one in three women live in a state with an active abortion ban with little to no access to comprehensive reproductive health care. Countless stories have come to light about the difficult decisions women in this country have been forced to make since Roe was overturned—stories that will inevitably continue.

And if Donald Trump wins another term in the White House, extremist Republicans will be fully empowered to double-down..

Donald Trump is running for president on a platform of punishing women, imprisoning doctors and passing a nationwide abortion ban. Trump recently bragged about ending Roe and Republicans nationwide have followed his lead, passing drastically restrictive legislation across the country.

A staggering majority of Americans support reproductive freedom: 80% oppose a federal ban on abortion, 61% oppose the Dobbs decision which overturned Roe, 57% believe overturning Roe was ‘bad for the country’ — the list goes on. Over the past two years, the right to choose has been enshrined in blue states, red states, and every shade of purple in between, exemplifying the importance of this issue for so many Americans.

This week, Milwaukee will welcome Vice President Kamala Harris back to Wisconsin to recognize the 51st anniversary of Roe. The Vice President’s visit underscores how the right to choose will be on the ballot come November. Unlike Trump and the Republican Party, President Biden and Democrats continue to fight to restore access to reproductive health care—defending FDA approval of medication abortion, fighting for women’s access to emergency medical care, and strengthening nationwide access to contraception.

Democrats, from local organizers all the way to the Oval Office, are committed to making sure Americans have more rights, not fewer. It is our duty to not only know the stakes of this election ourselves, but make sure every single voter knows them as well.