It is now up to us to engage and to redouble our efforts towards supporting the laws and policies that create a healthier world.
Today, the Supreme Court issued its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and end constitutionally protected abortion access in the US. This reflects a major shift on this issue, as choices about the legality and accessibility of abortion now fall to the states. The implications of this change are catastrophic. For the first time in decades, abortion access will not be protected in a majority of states.
In May, when a draft of the Court’s opinion leaked, I wrote about the need to center reproductive health and abortion access in the public health agenda. In early June, we came together as a school community to discuss abortion access and the future of reproductive health in the US, in the context of the decision we knew was likely coming. We now face the reality of a changed world. It is important to restate that abortion care is health care, and lack of federally protected abortion access has deep, intolerable, and unjust ramifications for health. The task of public health is to address this new reality in pursuit of our broader mission to improve the health of populations with special care for the marginalized and vulnerable.
Read the full piece here.