One Question: “How Can Reproductive Rights Be Protected?”

JAMIE L. MANSON

President of Catholics for Choice

For too long, we’ve allowed extremists on the religious right to control the narrative on abortion. But their delusions simply aren’t the reality: According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, 68 percent of Catholics want to see Roe v. Wade remain in place.

The religious right opposes universal health care, climate change legislation, and immigrant rights. They support policies that oppress the people who are most marginalized by the sinful structures of systemic racism, gender inequality, and economic inequality.

We must engage and embolden people of faith to speak out about their support for access to the full range of reproductive health care—not in spite of their faith, but because of it. We have the moral high ground here, and it’s time to claim it.

RENEE BRACEY SHERMAN

Founder and executive director of We Testify

As the Supreme Court prepares to allow more abortion bans and states criminalize and fine anyone having or supporting someone having an abortion, the future is more grim than our pre-Roe past. The frustrating truth is that many of the structural changes we needed to protect abortion access should have been implemented during the Obama Administration, or tirelessly fought for when the Hyde Amendment—the federal ban on Medicaid-covered abortions—was first introduced.

Still, there are things we can do to protect and expand access. Local governments can set aside funding to ensure residents are able to afford and physically get to their appointments—and we can donate to our local abortion funds and clinics. We can pressure district attorneys to not prosecute people suspected of self-managing abortions. We can educate ourselves on the medication abortion protocols in case someone we love needs to safely self-manage their care. Most simply, we can talk about abortion openly and show our love and support for those who have abortions.

JENNIFER WEISS-WOLF

Women and democracy fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice

Our mission is to revitalize the nation’s systems of democracy and justice. The persistent degradation of those systems—from voter suppression to the role of big money in politics—has led to the gravest threat to abortion access since Roe v. Wade was decided fifty years ago.

We are resolute that abortion access is essential to representative democracy. Among the most consequential moves Congress can make in 2022 is to reform Senate rules and pass essential voting rights legislation, as well as enshrine equality in the Constitution by bringing the Equal Rights Amendment across the finish line.

Community and state investments are also essential. This includes resourcing local abortion funds and direct aid, and bolstering state-level organizing to help abortion-friendly states extend hospitality and access to people who reside outside their borders.

It is an all-hands-on-deck moment, because the fight for democracy, the fight for equality, and the fight for abortion are in service of the same goal: justice for all.