Press

Statement from Jennifer Driver, SiX’s Senior Director of Reproductive Rights

“For over a decade we have seen a group of well-funded anti-abortion state legislators introduce and pass strategic policies that chip away at abortion access. Today’s news that the U.S. Supreme Court granted Mississippi’s request to review a case challenging the state’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy builds on the work that has reduced Mississippi to only one clinic in the entire state. 

To be clear, even before the Supreme Court agreed to hear this case, many communities in Mississippi were not experiencing true access to abortion care because of policies rooted in systemic racism. People struggling financially, young people, LGBTQ people, Black, Indigenous, and people of color bear the brunt of these restrictive policies.

We know that this case is bigger than one state. If Roe falls, more than 20 states would prohibit abortion outright. And 11 states—including Mississippi—currently have trigger bans on the books, which would instantaneously ban abortion if Roe is overturned.

State legislators in SiX’s Reproductive Freedom Leadership Council know that this is a long fight. We cannot rely on the courts alone to protect abortion access. No matter what the courts decide, we will continue to resist policies that deny people their basic human right to bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom.”