Murray Statement Following Oral Arguments in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, issued the following statement after hearing oral arguments in Whole Woman’s Health vs. Hellerstedt, the first major Supreme Court case involving restrictions on women’s access to abortion in more than two decades.

“Today, I left the Supreme Court inspired by the thoughtful questions many of the Justices asked and by the thousands of women and men rallying for women’s health, rights, and opportunity. At its core, this case is about whether our country will continue to uphold women’s constitutional rights or allow extreme, right-wing politicians to sneak around the Constitution and make women’s health care choices for them. As a mother, grandmother, and United States Senator I believe our country should be one in which a woman, regardless of her zip code or her income, gets to determine her own future. That’s what I’m going to continue fighting for and that is what I am very hopeful the Supreme Court will protect as they rule in this historic case.”

Earlier today, Murray delivered remarks at a rally on the Supreme Court steps, urging the Justices to uphold settled law in Roe v. Wade and protect a woman’s constitutional right to make her own choices about her own body. In January Senator Murray led a total of 163 members of the Senate and House in filing an amicus brief in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, which emphasized the damaging impact of HB2, the Texas clinic shutdown law, on women’s ability to exercise their constitutionally protected reproductive rights.