For Immediate Release: January 22, 2019
In response to an Iowa judge striking down a law that would ban abortion before most women even know they are pregnant, NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue released the following statement:
“Today, on the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Polk County District Judge Michael Huppert struck a blow for freedom. In striking down the blatantly unconstitutional Iowa abortion ban, he sent a message that women’s rights will not be used as political pawns in anti-choice extremists attempts to impose their ideology on others. Still, we know that Gov. Kim Reynolds and the anti-choice organizations that support her will stop at nothing until they eviscerate our basic human rights. Today, we applaud this win for women and families everywhere, but tomorrow, we get up and fight harder than before. NARAL will always be on the frontlines fighting to protect our freedom to control our own lives.”
The Supreme Court made very clear in Roe v. Wade, which established the constitutional right to an abortion, that restrictions on pre-viability abortion violate a woman’s right to privacy. The anti-choice GOP has made it clear that these bills are purposely meant to spark challenges in the courts and overturn Roe v. Wade. For decades, a multi-million-dollar, extreme, anti-choice movement has quietly and aggressively chipped away at that right in state legislatures, in lower courts, and now from within the Trump administration. While the anti-choice GOP continues to control women’s bodies and roll back our reproductive freedom, we know that when abortion is banned the number of abortions doesn’t go down, but rather that the number of deaths and injuries to women goes up.
NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates are dedicated to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom for all Americans. NARAL works to guarantee that every woman has the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. In recognition of its work defending our constitutional right to choose, Fortune Magazine described NARAL as “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.”