WASHINGTON - Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization, joined a growing number of organizations calling for the passage of S.4132. The Women's Health Protection Act. S. 4132 would codify abortion rights nationwide, averting the patchwork of reproductive health deserts that would result from the Supreme Court ending five decades of precedent by overturning Roe v. Wade.
"The release of the Supreme Court's draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson is a wakeup call to get off the sidelines. We urge the Senate to pass the Women's Health Protection Act, which would be a vital step to protect access to reproductive health, a critically important right for millions of women and LGBTQ+ people — including queer women, many non-binary people, and transgender men," said Joni Madison, Interim President of the Human Rights Campaign. "The stakes could not possibly be higher, particularly because we know any attack on our rights impacts the most marginalized among us first and foremost. We urge Senators to listen to the majority of Americans — nearly two-thirds of whom support Roe according to recent polls — and enshrine its protections into federal law."
In addition to the more obvious impacts on access to abortion care, an overturn of Roe carries possible impacts on family planning for LGBTQ+ people, including the use of in-vitro fertilization (IVF), that countless LGBTQ+ people rely upon to build their families. Even more chillingly, the Court's blatant disregard for the principle of stare decisis, or the principle of adhering to precedent, calls into question the durability of many of the protections afforded to LGBTQ+ Americans.
The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community
