Update:
Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Alexis McGill Johnson shared a video to Twitter on Friday after the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. In the video, she stated that Planned Parenthood will “fight for rights stronger than Roe.”
“No court or state will make us compromise our bodies, our dignity or our freedom,” she said in the video.
“Let me be clear: this won’t stop us,” she added.
To anyone today who is scared or angry or determined, know this — 17 million Planned Parenthood supporters proudly stand with you. We will rebuild the freedom that is ours. We're in it for the long haul. pic.twitter.com/xEwKLrgbz3
— Alexis McGill Johnson (@alexismcgill) June 24, 2022
In an interview with MSNBC, Johnson said that the news is “devastating” and that “the court just told us that we are not equal.”
“I can’t think of anything more enraging, more absurd, more insane than overturning nearly 50 years of precedent of our ability to control our own bodies,” she said, adding that it is “horrifying.”
Planned Parenthood Action Fund executive director Kelley Robinson told CBS that “the courts have failed this country.” Staff members at a clinic in West Palm Beach, Florida called it a “heartbreaking day.”
Reports broke today that Planned Parenthood abortion services are still resuming in Iowa. Planned Parenthood halted abortions in both South Dakota and Wisconsin this month ahead of the ruling.
Original:
On June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned landmark abortion cases Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) in the final ruling for the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Roe legalized abortion in all 50 states in 1973. Planned Parenthood, which is America’s largest abortion provider, reacted to the news on Twitter.
The news comes after a leaked draft opinion from the case was published by Politico in May. Penned by Justice Samuel Alito, the draft opinion then showed the justices overturning Roe and Casey. In today's final decision, Alito was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
In a joint statement, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, NARAL Pro-Choice America and the Liberate Abortion Campaign, which consists of over 150 abortion rights organizations, said that pro-abortion organizations are targeted and attacked by violent pro-life supporters who are doing so for "political points." However, Townhall has detailed how several pro-life organizations have been attacked and threatened by groups like Jane's Revenge. The statement also referred to pregnant women as "pregnant people," and said that pro-lifers attack abortion with "misleading" rhetoric.
“We reject the tactics and threats of groups that use destruction and violence as a means to an end. They do not speak for us, our supporters, our communities, or our movement. We are committed to protecting and expanding access to abortion and reproductive freedoms through peaceful, non-violent organizing and activism.
“People deserve to both provide and access abortion care in a safe and supportive environment. Abortion providers, health center staff, patients, and supporters of reproductive freedom have long faced daily threats and violence. Anti-abortion activists have harassed, intimidated, and bullied patients for simply seeking abortion and other essential sexual and reproductive health care with little or no accountability for decades. Abortion providers and reproductive freedom advocates have been threatened, stalked, and even murdered for doing their jobs. Health centers have been regularly vandalized and targeted by arsonists, including a Knoxville health center that was burned to the ground less than six months ago.
“We also recognize that those most loudly lifting up the actions of groups threatening violence have historically been silent as health centers, providers, and patients have been under threat for far too long. They continue to attack abortion and those who seek it with increasingly misleading and hostile rhetoric. Let’s be clear: these actors are not concerned with anyone’s safety; their only goal is to score political points and distract from a decision that could erase 50 years of reproductive rights and put millions more pregnant people at risk. The American people do not want lawmakers controlling their bodies, their lives, or their most personal medical decisions, and we will proudly continue to do the work of protecting their health and rights.”
In a series of tweets, Planned Parenthood urged women seeking an abortion to go to a website that directs women to abortion clinics across the country. As Townhall has reported, many states have “trigger” laws in place restricting abortion now that Roe is a thing of the past.
If you need an abortion, help is available to make sure you get the care you need. Call 1-800-230-PLAN or visit https://t.co/lR8fbYiicf.
— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) June 24, 2022
Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Alexis McGill Johnson said that the Supreme Court has given lawmakers authority to control women’s bodies. She tweeted the same link directing women to an abortion clinic locator website.
We mean it when we say it — care, no matter what.
— Alexis McGill Johnson (@alexismcgill) June 24, 2022
If you or someone you know needs an abortion, contact 1-800-230-Plan or visit https://t.co/legZxX01WD.
Former president and pro-abortion advocate Barack Obama shared his thoughts on the matter on Twitter. He said that the Supreme Court “reversed nearly 50 years of precedent” and urged users to engage with Planned Parenthood to “continue to be on the front lines of the fight” to continue to terminate unborn lives.
Across the country, states have already passed bills restricting choice. If you're looking for ways to respond, @PPFA, @USOWomen, and many other groups have been sounding the alarm on this issue for years—and will continue to be on the front lines of this fight. pic.twitter.com/PpXBEcbL2S
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 24, 2022
Townhall covered this month how Planned Parenthood halted abortions as their clinics in South Dakota and Wisconsin. At-home telemedicine abortions could be on the rise as a result, which are restricted in South Dakota as well.
Abortion behemoth Planned Parenthood carries out approximately 300,000 abortions each year, with the highest ever reported in a single year from Oct. 2017 to Sept. 2018, according to The Heritage Foundation. Pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony List also reported that abortions make up 95 percent of Planned Parenthood’s “pregnancy resolution” services and performs 81 abortions for every adoption referral. Over the past ten reported years before 2019, SBA List noted that the ratio was around 137 abortions for every adoption referral.
“Today marks an historic human rights victory for unborn children and their mothers and a bright pro-life future for our nation,” said SBA President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement. “Today the Supreme Court, in line with modern science and overwhelming public consensus, recognized the truth in every mother’s heart and that pro-life advocates have argued all along: unborn children are human beings, deserving of protection. Every legislature in the land, in every single state and Congress, is now free to allow the will of the people to make its way into the law through our elected representatives.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who filed an amicus brief defending her state's 15-week abortion and urged the Supreme Court to overturn Roe and Casey, issued a statement applauding the court's decision.
Today marks a new era in American history – and a great day for the American people. Roe v. Wade is now behind us, consigned to the list of infamous cases that collapsed under the weight of their errors. This decision is a victory not only for women and children, but for the Court itself. I commend the Court for restoring constitutional principles and returning this important issue to the American people.
Now, our work to empower women and promote life truly begins. The court has let loose its hold on abortion policymaking and given it back to the people. The task now falls to us to advocate for the laws that empower women – laws that promote fairness in child support and enhance enforcement of it, laws for childcare and workplace policies that support families, and laws that improve foster care and adoption.
We must renew our commitment to weaving a safety net that helps women in challenging circumstances and gives their children life and hope. This is about more than the fundamentals of prenatal vitamins and diapers; it is about helping to connect them to opportunities for education and job training to support their families. And always, it is about love and respect for them through whatever struggles they face. This is what it means to both empower women and promote life.
I am grateful to the Court for this opportunity and even more grateful to the millions of women and men across our nation who will lead us into this new post-Roe world. I have been proud to stand with you in the fight to get to this day and I will be proud to stand with you as we build a new framework for the life movement.
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