PIVOT Statement on the Supreme Court Decision to Overturn Roe v. Wade

The U.S. Supreme Court today issued a ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to a safe and legal abortion that has existed for 50 years. This is a momentous ruling that allows each state to decide women’s right to their own body– even as the Court ruled just yesterday to deny individual states the right to decide on gun safety. PIVOT is categorically opposed to this decision and will work tirelessly to right this wrong.

The decision today immediately took away the reproductive freedom of millions and put their lives at risk. Nearly 1 in 3 women will have an abortion in their lives. 26 states will ban abortion after Roe v. Wade is overturned. Women who have high-risk pregnancies will be forced to continue them even if they may die. Making abortions illegal does not make them go away but will make people obtain them in unsafe ways. This decision also limits access to the procedure for transgender and nonbinary people who are able to become pregnant. Maternal mortality is already too high in this country and will only get worse, with racial/ethnic minorities, poor people, and rural communities  bearing the brunt of that burden.

PIVOT Executive Director Dr. Jennifer Kim-Anh Tran stated that “sadness and fear overwhelms my body today. Women, queer/trans, non-binary folks of color have been historically made to feel unsafe in our bodies through government policies, social practices, and daily (micro) aggressions. White cis-heteropatriarchal power has been seized and maintained through the control and exploitation of our bodies. We have spent many lifetimes to right the wrongs of the past, and we will not rest until liberty, dignity, and justice is restored.” 

Because of its disproportionate impact on BIPOC communities and its effect on all families, the right to choose is not just a women’s rights issue nor is it only about abortion. Roe v. Wade set the precedent for other liberty rights outside of women’s reproductive rights such as Lawrence v. Texas (2003), which held that the government cannot criminalize intimate sexual conduct between same-sex partners, and Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), guaranteeing same-sex couples the right to marry. It is an LGBTQ rights issue. It is a health care access issue. It is an economic justice issue. It is a racial justice issue. It is an immigrant rights issue– some of the same states expected to pass abortion bans have introduced xenophobic sex-selective abortion bans racially profiling Asian American women in the past. 

 “It’s remarkable that my American-born daughters will now have fewer rights than I did. Our families did not leave everything behind in Vietnam to come to a country where our freedoms and rights are being taken away. We should be expanding and progressing our freedoms, not regressing,” said PIVOT Board member Minh-Thu Pham. Dr. Tung Nguyen, PIVOT President, also said that “All men must stand up and fight against this decision, which affects all families.”
It is impossible to have life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness if one does not control what happens to one’s body. Family planning is everyone’s right and responsibility. Reactionaries and conservatives will attempt to extend their control of our bodies and our families to contraception, privacy, and LGBTQ rights. We must all stand together to fight this tyranny of the minority over the majority of this country. PIVOT is committed to this fight starting in the electoral space. Join us in our efforts to elect those who will protect our rights and our families.

More responses from PIVOT board members:

“I’m thinking of all young teenagers, especially those from low-income families, that will no longer have an opportunity to live life fully and to be contributing citizens because of this decision. We will have a nation with even more unwanted, neglected, abused children.  Please don’t be complacent, be angry but take actions!” - Cathy Lam 

“Today, my heart breaks for all those who feel they are bearing this news alone—the kids who don’t understand what sex education even means, the struggling families who cannot afford another mouth to feed, the hopeful mothers with pregnancies they cannot carry to term. My heart breaks for our country’s 50-year regression into the dark ages, and it breaks for all the opportunities and hopes and dreams you carry.” - Linh Chuong 

“This is not the end. For people living in the Red States whose bodily autonomy and reproductive healthcare will be adversely affected, there is a way to counter strike: Bubble in your disgust and anger on your future ballots. VOTE BLUE!” -Hong-My Basrai

“It’s a dark day to be American and it’s a dark day to be a woman in America. We can turn this anguish we feel into action, commitment to do the long work of organizing across communities across years and decades, whatever it takes to get our hard fought fundamental rights back.” -Ky-Nam Miller