Unions Respond to Overturning of Roe v. Wade

Several unions have condemned the Supreme Court’s decision last week to overturn Roe vs. Wade and allow states to criminalize Americans exercising their rights to have an abortion. Maine AFL-CIO President Cynthia Phinney’s sent the following statement on the decision last week:

While today’s Supreme Court ruling overturning of Roe v. Wade comes as no surprise to most who paid attention to the most recent supreme court confirmations, it is nevertheless a terrible blow to privacy and freedoms held by women for the past 50 years under Roe. The right to control what happens to her body is a fundamental element of a woman’s economic, emotional and physical security.

We know from history that this decision will only widen existing racial and economic disparities and that the burdens will fall disproportionately on marginalized and low-income women and families. We know from history that the restrictions to health care access and options that this decision allows will cost the lives of women. 

Maine law currently protects women’s reproductive healthcare rights, but they are at risk without the additional constitutional protection that Roe provided. What was already needed – expanded access to affordable childcare and paid family and medical leave, as well as access to good jobs – is now all the more urgent and must be addressed by state legislatures and Congress.

Reproductive rights are fundamentally a health care issue and we believe that health care is a human right. Unions must work extra hard to ensure that workers are guaranteed access to reproductive health care in their collective bargaining agreements, but also that the right to do so is protected by law.

Maine’s unions remain committed to the fight for gender justice and economic equity for all people.

Here are what other union leaders are saying:

“Reproductive rights are essential for economic justice. Women cannot be truly equal without control of their own bodies. Restricting access to reproductive care threatens the autonomy, health, safety and economic stability of working people, particularly women who earn low wages and struggle to make ends meet. While our Great State of Maine currently has a state law protecting abortion, laws can be changed. Future governors and state legislators must guard against attacks on Maine workers' reproductive rights.” 

— Dean Staffieri, President, Maine Service Employees Association, SEIU Local 1989

“Abortion is health care. Plain and simple. It’s outrageous and completely unacceptable to single out this one health care service, that’s only needed by people who can get pregnant, as illegal. We nurses have a duty to always advocate for our patients, and that’s exactly what we’ll continue to do: fight for our patients’ rights to make their own health care decisions and control their own bodies. We won’t rest until this right is restored to all.” 

— Jean Ross, RN and president of National Nurses United. Read the full statement here.

“More than half of the states are poised to enact or implement cruel, draconian laws undermining the privacy rights and personal freedoms of millions of people. Working with coalition partners, AFSCME will do everything in our power to neutralize the impact of this decision, including working to elect candidates this year who will make it a top priority to protect reproductive rights.” 

— AFSCME President Lee Saunders. Read AFSCME’s full statement here.

“By taking the power to make reproductive choices from women and putting them in the hands of state legislators, the U.S. Supreme Court has effectively set up a system where the well-connected and privileged will be able to make reproductive choices by traveling to states or countries that respect those rights while other women without resources will be left powerless and vulnerable. This decision will only increase existing racial and economic disparities at a time when we should be fighting for equality for all. This is not progress. This is not right.”

— UAW, Full statement here.

Here are some more statements from SEIU, the American Federation of Teachers,SMART Union, Communications Workers of America, NewsGuild, IATSE, IUPAT and Starbucks Workers United.