Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Releases Statement on the Death of Sarah Weddington
For Immediate Release: Monday, December 27, 2021
Contact: [email protected]
Washington, DC — NARAL Pro-Choice America released the following statement celebrating the life of Sarah Weddington, the attorney who argued Roe v. Wade before the Supreme Court.
NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju said:
“Sarah Weddington was a trailblazing champion for reproductive freedom. She was a role model, teacher and mentor to many activists, and I’m so grateful to have benefited from not only her fierce commitment to justice but also her generosity and wisdom. We extend our deepest condolences to her loved ones.
The landmark Roe v. Wade decision created the legal framework for the constitutional right to abortion and is the foundation upon which so many of our cherished freedoms are built. With Roe v. Wade under unprecedented attack and facing a 6-3 supermajority on the Supreme Court hostile to legal abortion, we will continue to fight to preserve and expand the rights Sarah Weddington so powerfully fought for nearly half a century ago. A critical step to honoring her legacy would be for the Senate to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act and lock the promise of Roe into law.”
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on December 1—a case that directly challenges Roe v. Wade and threatens the constitutional right to abortion.
The Women’s Health Protection Act would safeguard the legal right to abortion throughout the United States. The House of Representatives passed the bill earlier this fall in a landmark vote, and now it’s time for the U.S. Senate to take up the legislation and send the bill to President Biden’s desk for signature.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, paid family leave, and protections from pregnancy discrimination—for every body. NARAL is powered by its more than 2.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.