We must trust women and protect access to abortion
Today’s decision is another overreaching one by a far-right Supreme Court that has regularly undermined democratic safeguards, our rights to clean air and water, and our protections from abuse by bosses and federal agents.
We need to trust women to make decisions about abortion and birth control that are right for them. As Latter-day Saints, while we have a diversity of personal and public policy views, we know that sometimes terminating a pregnancy is what must be done — not only according to the General Handbook but the experiences of many. Almost all of us have loved ones who wouldn’t be alive today if they hadn’t been able to receive necessary medical support and expertise. Access to abortion is a matter of religious liberty for us and what any society should provide as part of promoting reproductive health, safe pregnancy, and family outcomes.
We won’t go back.
We see already anti-choice thinkers and politicians pushing even more extreme ideas. A Heritage Foundation Senior Research Fellow and Director described mandatory psychiatric confinement for people who have abortions as a “really thoughtful proposal.” A Cato Institute scholar insultingly argued that people who have religious reasons to end a pregnancy — including many of our Jewish neighbors — do not follow a recognizable or coherent religion in a sincere way. We are disturbed that Republican state legislators are following these extreme ideas and proposing bans on out-of-state travel, bans on the abortion of otherwise-fatal ectopic pregnancies, and deputizing “bounty hunter” enforcers of state bans.
Our experience has taught us what happens whenever politicians exercise unrighteous dominion. Unfortunately, broad swathes of the Republican Party have embraced Christian Nationalists who will continue to prioritize their own extreme agenda over the well-being and personal conscience of Latter-day Saints and our neighbors.
The path forward is clear: trust and empower women and elect leaders who will stand up for quality healthcare and freedom for all Americans.
