Congressman Sires Condemns Supreme Court’s Overturning of Roe v. Wade

(Washington, D.C.) – Congressman Sires released the following statement following the Supreme Court’s decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, reversing Roe v. Wade: 

“Never before has the Supreme Court recognized a constitutional right then taken it away. Never before has a generation of women lost a right their mothers enjoyed. Today’s Court majority has betrayed this country’s women and stripped them of their vital right of bodily autonomy. Their opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has overturned the constitutional right to abortion which was set in Roe v. Wade(1973) and later upheld in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992). Fifty years of legal precedent have been forced aside based on the extreme political beliefs of six Supreme Court Justices. 

This case fundamentally changes our nation in a way I never thought I would see. It leaves millions of women without dignity, without control over their own bodies, their futures, or their families. Trigger laws are going into effect in many Republican-controlled states banning abortion even in cases of rape and incest. While denying bodily autonomy and mandating women carry pregnancies, these states are also cutting funding for services for poor families, nutrition assistance for children, and access to health care and contraception. This is not pro-life. 

Far from clarifying this highly personal issue for many individuals, this decision has ignited chaos across the country. Today, women woke up in a modern society with the right to make decisions about their own bodies and many will go to sleep governed by laws from as far back as 1846. Importantly for women in New Jersey, abortion remains protected, legal, and safe. Congress needs to federally protect the right to abortion so that all women in America have access to care like those in New Jersey. 

This decision will be remembered as a stain on the Court, a disgrace to the Court, and a defilement to its legacy.”