Catholics for Choice Statement in Advance of Whole Woman’s Health Supreme Court Decision

Below is a short statement from Jon O’Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, in anticipation of the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision on Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt:

Whatever the Supreme Court decides in the case of Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, it can hardly be hailed as a victory by either side. The fact that state legislators continue to sharply restrict the decisions women are legally entitled to make demonstrates that these are dark days for American women. Catholic teaching demands that we respect the conscience-based decisions people make, including the right to continue or end a pregnancy. In fact, American Catholics, some 71 million strong, have abortions at the same rate as women of other faiths.

It is no coincidence that the restrictions being challenged in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt are just a handful of the hundreds of state measures that seek to limit access to or ban all or most abortions. It has much less to do with abortion than it does with legislating away the rights of women. We know that the only way to stop this unending stream of hatred towards women as moral decision-makers is for voters to show up at the polls. Women, and the men who love them, must tell legislators to stop taking away the choices women make legally and in good faith. Otherwise, this may remain the most significant abortion case heard by the Court in the past 20 years, but it certainly won’t be the last.

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