Tim Kaine: “for nearly half a century, the Supreme Court held that the right to make reproductive decisions was protected by the…”

“for nearly half a century, the Supreme Court held that the right to make reproductive decisions was protected by the 14th Amendment. Generations of women have relied on the freedom to make reproductive health decisions as a matter of fundamental personal rights. In particular, seminal cases such as Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, Griswold v. Connecticut, Eisenstadt v. Baird, and Carey v. Population Services International established basic rights to obtain abortion services and access contraception. The Supreme Court's recent decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health overruled Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, the landmark decisions holding that a woman's right to a pre-viability abortion is constitutionally protected. As the dissenters in Dobbs observed, this right is ``embedded in core constitutional concepts of individual freedom, and of the equal rights of citizens to decide on the shape of their lives.'' The Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs resulted in immediate abortion bans in several States and means that millions of women, particularly women who live in the South, parts of the Midwest, and the West, will live hundreds of miles from the nearest abortion clinic. In fact, approximately 17 million women could be forced to travel more than 200 miles in order to obtain abortion care.…”