FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

May 3, 2022

MEDIA CONTACT: 

e: jeanette.lenoir@mail.house.gov

c: 202.480.5737

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09) issued the following statement on the draft opinion from Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., that makes an argument to overrule the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Roe v. Wade. 

“Rejecting Roe v. Wade 50 years later amounts to an all out assault on women’s reproductive rights and freedoms, and it is a political act by an extreme and hostile Supreme Court. Fifty years ago it was established that every woman has the right to the control of her body, a right that already existed for every man. And yet, here we are again facing another egregious wrong with this draft opinion from Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., seeking to make an argument for stripping away women’s reproductive rights,” said Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke.

“I will not stand for this blatant political attack on women. Roe v. Wade is the law of the land and it’s clear we must strengthen our resolve to fiercely protect every woman’s right to choose their health care and make reproductive decisions. In 1916, Planned Parenthood was a revolutionary idea that started in my district in Brownsville, Brooklyn where the country’s first birth control clinic opened. New Yorkers have a long and proud history of protecting and upholding women’s reproductive rights. It is critical that we end the filibuster and make the Women’s Health Protection Act law. Today, more so than ever, it is incumbent upon elected officials at every level of government to ferociously protect a woman’s right to choose.”

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Yvette D. Clarke has been in Congress since 2007. She represents New York’s Ninth Congressional District, which includes Central and South Brooklyn. Clarke is a Senior Member of both the House Energy and Commerce Committee and House Committee on Homeland Security, where she serves as Chair of the Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Innovation Subcommittee.