Rep. Cleaver's Statement on the Supreme Court Overturning Roe v. Wade

Statement

"To say I am disappointed with the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and decades of legal precedent--supported by conservative and liberal justices alike--would be an understatement of epic proportions. I, along with tens of millions of Americans, am disgusted and infuriated that the McConnell majority on the highest court in the land has concluded that women across this nation have no right to bodily autonomy or reproductive freedom. Instead, they believe the lives and family decisions of each and every woman in America should be controlled by politicians and gerrymandered state legislatures.

"Today's decision sets our nation back over 50 years, ensuring that for the first time in generations, women today will have fewer rights than their mothers before them. Additionally, it busts down the door to the real possibility that other rights, such as access to contraception, the right to marry whomever you love, and the right to privacy, could be struck down in the near future. It is an expansion of government power the likes of which we have not seen in decades. And it guarantees that states across the country, including Missouri, which has already enacted an abortion ban with no exception for rape or incest, will seek to further criminalize the health care decisions that should only belong to a woman and her doctor.

"The Supreme Court has made it abundantly clear that its justices have become so insular that they are completely out of touch with the American people. In two days, they have released two decisions so widely out of step with the overwhelming majority of the public that one can only interpret them as a slap in face to Americans who believe in an independent, nonpartisan judicial branch of government. And because of Mitch McConnell and the ideologues on the court, that essential tenet to America's rule of law appears to be more and more impossible with each passing day.

"However, in spite of this ludicrous decision, we must not be defeated, but defiant; we must not feel powerless, but persistent. All Americans who support a woman's right to choose and the right to privacy must stand together to make their voices heard--today and every day. I will continue doing everything in my power to defend the freedoms that Americans have fought, marched, and died for--but it's going to take all of us to right this malicious wrong."

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