Senator Murray Rallies to Protect the Right to Abortion Alongside Washington State Women Leaders
Senator Murray: “I will not stop fighting, I will not stop speaking up—and doing everything I possibly can to get a bill to President Biden’s desk to protect the right to abortion.”
***LISTEN: SENATOR MURRAY FIGHTS TO PROTECT RIGHT TO ABORTION ***
***PHOTOS OF THE PRESS CONFERENCE HERE***
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined Washington state women leaders at a Seattle Planned Parenthood clinic to sound the alarm about the urgent need to protect the right to abortion and pass the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), in the wake of news that the Supreme Court plans to overturn Roe v. Wade and end the constitutional right to abortion.
Senator Murray was joined at Friday’s press conference by Commissioner of Public Lands Hillary Franz, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Rep. Kim Schrier (WA-08), Jennifer M. Allen, CEO of Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, State Senator Emily Randall, State Representative My-Linh Thai, State Senator Manka Dhingra, State Senator Karen Keiser, State Senator Claire Wilson, State Representative Lisa Callan, State Representative Brandy Donaghy, State Representative Davina Duerr, State Representative Debra Entenman, State Representative Noel Frame, State Representative Kirsten Harris-Talley, State Representative Mari Leavitt, State Representative Nicole Macri, State Representative Tina Orwall, State Representative Sharon Tomiko-Santos, State Representative Tana Senn, State Representative Vandana Slatter, State Representative Jamila Taylor, and State Representative Cindy Ryu.
During the event, Senator Murray thanked the Planned Parenthood staff for their tireless work providing patients with the health care they need, and made clear that she stands with everyone enraged by this week’s news—and won’t stop fighting.
“I’m here today to say thank you for your work. Thank you for everything you do for this community. But I’m also here to let you know: you are not alone in this fight. I am right beside you. Because as heartbroken as I am—I’m also furious,” said Senator Murray. “I’m spitting mad. At the Supreme Court for considering stripping away women’s rights. At Republican state legislators across the country—including right next door in Idaho—who are passing abortion bans and starting health care crises that impact all of us. And at Republicans in the Senate who filled our courts with far-right, anti-abortion judges, who take every opportunity to undermine abortion rights, who have gone even further to attack birth control and other reproductive health care—including just last week with an attack on the Title X family planning program—and who are now trying to push a federal abortion ban.”
Senator Murray emphasized that she’s doing everything she can in Congress to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act and get a bill to President Biden’s desk to protect the right to abortion—but that more pro-choice voices are needed in Congress.
“In light of this truly devastating news about the Supreme Court, we’re going to force them to show the American people their true colors—and cast a vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act, a landmark bill to protect the right to abortion. And I will not stop fighting, I will not stop speaking up—and doing everything I possibly can to get a bill to President Biden’s desk to protect the right to abortion,” said Senator Murray. “But we need to send more pro-choice voices to the Senate and the House—and this November we need to make it happen.”
Senator Murray has long been a leader in Congress in the fight to protect and expand access to reproductive health care and abortion rights. Since the Supreme Court agreed to hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Senator Murray has vowed to fight back and protect Roe v. Wade and everyone’s reproductive rights—including by building support and fighting to hold a vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would protect the right to abortion nationwide. Since the leaked decision revealed that the Supreme Court was planning to overturn Roe, Senator Murray has been a leader in the Senate pushing back: releasing a statement calling the decision a “five alarm fire,” calling for a vote on WHPA so every Republican Senator is forced to show the American public where they stand, and pressing the Biden Administration for federal action in response to this latest attack on abortion rights.
Senator Murray has also been fighting to protect patients’ access to birth control by making sure that insurers cover their birth control without out-of-pocket costs, as the Affordable Care Act requires—and by fighting to protect and expand the Title X family planning program, even in the face of Republican attacks.
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