Rep. Chu’s Statement on 4th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade Reversal

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today Congresswoman Judy Chu (CA-28) released the following statement marking four years since the Supreme Court issued the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which overturned the 50-year precedent in Roe v. Wade of a nationwide, constitutional right to abortion care.

"Four years ago today, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and stripped away a constitutional freedom that generations fought to secure. Today, I think about the women whose lives have been destroyed because of the consequences.

I think about the mother in Alabama who had already chosen a name for her baby boy before learning he had a fatal fetal diagnosis. Instead of receiving compassionate care from the doctors she trusted, she was told to carry her pregnancy to term and watch her child die. With no other option, she drove eleven hours across the country with her infant son to receive the health care she needed.

I think about the family in Arkansas who had already picked out the name for their daughter before learning she would never survive outside the womb. Their doctor was so afraid of the state's abortion ban that she could only hint at their medical options. They were forced to travel hundreds of miles to say goodbye to a deeply wanted child.

I think about the mother in Arizona who nearly died during a previous pregnancy and feared leaving her two young sons without a mother if she were forced to endure another life-threatening pregnancy.

I think about the women I met in Texas who desperately wanted their pregnancies but were forced to wait until they became critically ill before doctors felt legally safe enough to provide care.

I think about the young mother from Georgia who was declared brain dead but was kept on life support for months against her family's wishes because she was pregnant, forcing her family to endure unimaginable grief before her baby was ultimately delivered.

And I think about the women whose names we may never know, but whose lives have been forever altered because extreme politicians believed they knew better than their doctors.

Protecting and restoring reproductive freedoms remains one of my highest priorities in Congress. I first introduced the Women's Health Protection Act in 2013-nearly a decade before Dobbs-because I saw state legislatures systematically eroding abortion access, using waiting periods, mandatory ultrasounds, clinic closures, six-week abortion bans, fifteen-week bans, and anything else they could throw to stop women from getting care. I knew Congress needed a permanent federal safeguard, and I was so proud when the House has passed my Women's Health Protection Act twice-first in September 2021 by a vote of 218-211, marking the most-supported abortion rights bill in congressional history, and again just weeks after Dobbs in July 2022, by a vote of 219-210.

When Dobbs became the law of the land, I refused to accept that this was the end of the story. Just days after the decision, I was arrested outside the Supreme Court alongside advocates demanding that reproductive freedom be restored. I have continued leading the fight to protect contraception, medication abortion, Title X family planning services, access to IVF, and affordable reproductive health care. I have met with courageous providers like Dr. Caitlin Bernard, who have continued caring for patients despite relentless political attacks. I have elevated the stories of women harmed by abortion bans through hearings, roundtables, and meetings across the country. And as a member of the Ways and Means Committee, I have used every opportunity to expand access to reproductive health care-offering amendment after amendment to protect contraception, strengthen reproductive health care, and ensure Congress confronts the devastating human consequences of these laws.

Four years after Dobbs, the harm is undeniable. Women have suffered, families have been torn apart, doctors have been silenced, and lives have been lost. But I refuse to accept that this is the future of our country. I have spent more than a decade fighting to protect reproductive freedom, and I will never stop until every person in every state and every zip code once again has the freedom to make their own reproductive health care decisions. No woman should ever have to leave her home, risk her life, or bury a wanted child because politicians denied her the care she deserved."