Defend Reproductive Health from Unprecedented Legal Attacks

To the Honorable Members of the U.S. Congress,

We petition you to take immediate and decisive action to safeguard reproductive rights in the United States, in response to rapidly emerging threats. Very recent developments indicate a coordinated effort to restrict abortion access through measures that could far surpass any previously proposed national ban, leveraging outdated and long dormant laws in ways that could have profound and far-reaching consequences for reproductive freedom.

Central to these concerns is the potential revival of the Comstock Act of 1873, an antiquated law that, if enforced, would criminalize the distribution of abortion materials, including abortion pills. Given that abortion pills account for the majority of abortions in the United States, the implications of such enforcement are dire and far-reaching. This would effectively impose a nationwide ban on the most accessible form of abortion, bypassing the need for legislative action and curtailing the rights and freedoms of countless individuals.

Those proposed plans aim to exploit the Comstock Act and other regulatory avenues to circumvent Congress and impose severe restrictions on abortion access. These plans are part of a well-documented strategy to employ the full extent of the executive branch's regulatory powers to undermine reproductive rights. The potential for these measures to be enacted without public scrutiny or legislative debate poses a significant threat to democratic governance and the protection of individual freedoms and personal reproductive health.

Furthermore, the proposed policies extend beyond the mere prohibition of abortion services to include the banning of medical research using fetal stem cells and the rescinding of approval for abortion medications by the FDA. Such plans would not only restrict abortion access but also stifle scientific progress and the development of treatments for serious diseases. 

It threatens to roll back decades of progress in women's health and rights, setting a dangerous precedent for the use of dormant laws to bypass established legal protections and norms.

It puts individuals in desperate situations, where they may seek unsafe means to terminate pregnancies, thus endangering lives. Recent research puts it at a staggering 24% increase in maternal mortality. It would also create a chilling effect on medical research and the development of new medical treatments, with far-reaching implications for public health. 

In light of these grave concerns, we urge Congress to take immediate steps to protect reproductive rights by:

1) Ensuring that any attempts to misuse long dormant and antiquated laws like the Comstock Act to restrict abortion rights are clearly prohibited.

2) Strengthening protections for reproductive rights at the federal level, to safeguard against the erosion of these rights through executive action or regulatory overreach.

3) Supporting and funding organizations that provide essential reproductive health services, to ensure that individuals continue to have access to safe and legal abortion services and other healthcare needs.

The urgency of this matter cannot be overstated. We implore you to act with conviction and haste to prevent the implementation of policies that would not only undermine reproductive rights but also represent a direct assault on the principles of freedom and rights to reproductive health that are foundational to our democracy.