Pensacola DSA Statement on Defending Abortion Rights

 

The Pensacola chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America strongly condemns the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. This regressive ruling targets the right to privacy and bodily autonomy that has been protected under Roe v. Wade for the last fifty years and allows individual states to ban abortion entirely. At this time, thirteen states have trigger laws in place to ban abortion immediately and thirteen more are expected to follow.

The far right wing of the Supreme Court, most of whom were appointed by a president who lost the popular vote, has demonstrated beyond all debate that they are an illegitimate institution, more focused on forcing the American people to bend to their personal ideologies than on following the will of the people they serve. Just this month, the Court has weakened the separation between church and state through Carso v. Makin; ruled against a 108-year-old NY law limiting concealed carry of guns in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc v. Bruen; and set precedence to overturn Miranda v. Arizona. Today’s ruling against the right to privacy sets precedence for many other rights to come under attack: the right to same-sex marriage under Obergefell v. Hodges, the right to access to contraceptives under Griswald v. Connecticut, and the ruling that state sodomy laws are unconstitutional under Lawrence v. Texas.

Striking down Roe v. Wade is an outright attack on the working class of this country. A government that can take away one person’s bodily privacy and autonomy is one that can take it away from all of us. That is why we are committed to the liberation of all people having freedom and control over their own lives and bodies. The vast majority of Americans support and agree that abortion should be protected by the Constitution. Our autonomy should not depend on the whims of nine unelected lifetime appointments but rather on the democratic will of the people.  

Now more than ever, we need to build a vibrant, militant socialist movement to defeat Republican minority rule, win legislative power, and build a better world that guarantees healthcare as a human right, including the right to free abortions on demand without apology. As the largest socialist organization in the United States, DSA is building that democratic and majoritarian socialist movement. We are building local power right here in the Panhandle of Florida, but this movement needs your help. This Tuesday we will be hosting a Defending Abortion Rights Open Forum bringing together local groups and organizers in and around Pensacola to report on the local situation for abortion access and substantive ways people can get plugged in to the struggle for reproductive justice. Click the link below to to sign up to join us this Tuesday at 7 PM on Zoom.

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