Burlington County leaders condemn Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v Wade

MOUNT HOLLY – The Burlington County Commissioners and Burlington County Women’s Advisory Council voiced their disappointment and outrage about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, calling it a catastrophe for women’s rights and the struggle for equality.

“The Burlington County Women’s Advisory Council and I are deeply saddened and disappointed by the Supreme Court’s ruling and the far-reaching impacts it will have nationwide,” said Commissioner Felicia Hopson, who serves as a liaison to the Women’s Advisory Council. “For the first time in this country’s history, a constitutionally guaranteed personal liberty has been taken away. We must use this decision as a call to action and work together to do more to protect the rights of women everywhere.”

“The Supreme Court’s decision to revoke constitutional rights from women is devastating and heartbreaking,” added Commissioner Allison Eckel, who also serves as a liaison to the Women’s Advisory Council. “The struggle for equality that women have embarked upon for more than a century has suffered a severe setback by this conservative court’s callus elimination of a personal liberty that had been guaranteed for almost 50 years. Reproductive freedom must be protected at all costs, and we will fight for it here in New Jersey and across the nation.”

Burlington County Health Department Director Dr. Herb Conaway also voiced his disappointment with the high court’s decision.

“Nearly 50 years ago the U.S. Supreme Court decided in part that a woman has a fundamental right to make intimate, personal decisions respecting her bodily integrity.  In so doing the Court moved to place women on an equal footing with men.  Today the Court, for the first time, eliminated a federal, constitutionally protected right and placed women firmly behind men.  That a man can control his body while a woman cannot represents fundamental inequality,” said Assemblyman Herb Conaway, a medical doctor.  “The Court’s decision will allow states to wrongly force a woman to maintain a pregnancy even at the cost of her own life.  Abortion bans don’t stop abortions.  They merely move abortions to unsafe settings that are hazardous to a woman’s life and a threat to public health.  As if things weren’t bad enough, the Court appears poised to allow restrictions on contraception and to attack marriage equality.  Fortunately, New Jersey’s constitution has been interpreted to protect both reproductive freedom and marriage equality.  I add my voice to the chorus leaders across our state who are rightly outraged by the conservative court’s decision to toss away precedent and reduce fundamental freedom.”