THE 3 STEP PLAYBOOK TO SAVE ROE

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (May 9, 2022) — ​Following last week’s devastating leaked draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade and cut off access to abortion care for countless Americans, leaders are looking for a way to ensure the fundamental right to abortion is truly protected.

Supporting abortion access means supporting 3 clear steps. This is the playbook:

  1. Eliminate the filibuster so senators can pass essential and urgent legislation with a simple majority. The filibuster is inherently undemocratic and continues to be used to block progress in protecting our fundamental rights.

  2. Vote for the Women’s Health Protection Act to codify the right to abortion into federal law. A national right to abortion is paramount, and this Wednesday, senators have the chance to live up to their promises to protect abortion access by passing this essential legislation.

  3. Expand the Supreme Court by signing onto the Judiciary Act of 2021. Spearheaded by Senator Ed Markey and Reps. Hank Johnson and Mondaire Jones, the bill would add four seats to the Court, rebalancing it from its 2016 theft by Mitch McConnell and his allies and restoring integrity to the institution. Without expansion, the current right-wing Supreme Court will continue imposing its radical agenda on America.

    There is momentum for this playbook since the decision leaked: In the past week, leaders from former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder to Reps. Adam Schiff, Brendan Boyle, Nanette Barragán, and Jimmy Gomez have come out in support of expanding the Court, because they understand that a national law protecting abortion is only safe when the rigged Supreme Court cannot strike it down.

    In addition, new polling last week found that by a 7-point margin more Americans support court expansion than oppose it. The support is consistent with April polling that shows a majority (52%) of registered voters believe that increasing the number of justices on the Supreme Court would strengthen democracy. 

Our window to protect people’s right to abortion is closing, and there’s no time left to waste on bandaid solutions. At this point, leaders who don’t support these three steps cannot be taken seriously in their claims to want to protect abortion access. 

Lives depend on this. This playbook is the only adequate response.