Ahead of the one year anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling that undid almost 50 years of progress in women’s reproductive rights in the U.S., Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book (D-Davie) wrote an op-ed in the Sun Sentinel highlighting the importance of defending reproductive freedoms and stressing the need to act through civic engagement, rallies and a proposed constitutional amendment. Leader Book also shared the following statement:
“In the year since the Roe v. Wade reversal, we have also seen the disrespectful reversal of women’s reproductive rights with radical abortion bans in Republican-led states. This is the opposite of freedom. This is a political assault on women and girls, sexual assault survivors, families. We’ve read the personal and traumatic impacts of the Dobbs decision and its shortsightedness. It has brought stories of trauma – including the tragedies of Anya Cook and Shanae Smith-Cunningham – constituents who I serve as a Senator in Broward County. Our safety and security has been put at risk because of unpopular political pandering to people who care more about sacs of eggs than they do the lives of real, living and breathing women.
We can’t let men and politics into private and sensitive decisions between a woman and her doctor. That means we need to act. We need to work to make sure we can defend abortion at the ballot box. We need to show up at the rallies for reproductive freedom. We need to raise our voices and join the movement to protect the future of women’s rights to shape their own destinies. We will not back down because no one is coming to save us but ourselves.”
