DelBene Signs Amicus Brief Reaffirming Women's Constitutional Right to Choose

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) today joined her colleagues in filing an amicus brief with the Supreme Court supporting a woman's constitutional right to decide whether and when to have a child, as the Court prepares to consider Whole Women's Health v. Cole.

"A woman's right to make her own healthcare decisions means nothing without the ability to exercise that right. Unfortunately, state legislatures across the country are chipping away at these rights and blocking women's access to safe medical care," DelBene said. "The public overwhelmingly agrees that medical decisions should be left to women and their families, not politicians or radical extremists. I hope the Court recognizes that these shameful attacks would rewrite history and put women's health at risk, and must be overturned."

Texas physicians seeking to protect women's access to safe medical care are challenging the state's 2013 anti-abortion law (HB2), which threatens to close more than 75 percent of clinics offering abortion care and leave many women with little meaningful ability to exercise their constitutional rights.

More than 100 Democrats signed the brief, which calls on the Supreme Court to step in to prevent states from establishing laws that unduly restrict women's constitutional rights without furthering a legitimate state interest. Additional briefs opposing HB2 have been filed by the American Medical Association and the American Public Health Association, among others.

In November, DelBene was appointed to the Republicans' new Select Committee to Attack Women's Health, which was established by House leaders to investigate Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers around the country. In her role on the Committee, DelBene will work to support women's access to healthcare.

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