WASHINGTON – Yesterday, two federal judges issued orders on requiring Texas and Ohio to allow abortion clinics to stay open and keep providing services in the states after it was reported that Mississippi, Ohio, Texas and Oklahoma have moved to limit abortion as a part of their responses to the coronavirus threat, deeming abortion services “non-essential.”
Statement from Shaunna Thomas, co-founder and executive director of UltraViolet, a leading national women’s organization, responded:
“Abortions are essential, time-sensitive procedures. For anti-choice Republicans in red states to use the covid-19 pandemic as a political weapon to cut down access to abortion care is despicable. We applaud federal judges in Texas and Ohio for striking down these abortion bans and ensuring that millions get the care they need, and Planned Parenthood and the ACLU for keeping the states from exploiting the coronavrius crisis as part of aradical, unscientific, and dangerous agenda.
“Make no mistake: moves to try to close down abortion clinics by Texas, Ohio, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and Oklahoma were never about doing the right thing for women. They were about using a national emergency to enact further limits on abortion and attempting to control women’s bodies in a moment when women are already on the frontlines of this pandemic.
“No legitimate scientific body, including the World Health Organization that has been guiding successful coronavirus response programs in other countries, recommends these restrictions – and responsible Governors across the country in states as diverse as New York, Kansas, Massachussets and Washington, have listened to the experts and safeguarded abortion as an an essential medical service.
“Abortion access is critical at all times, but especially during a pandemic, when people’s health and economic futures are in jeopardy. Pregnant people need more choice and access right now, not less.”
More than 13,000 people have signed onto a new petition from UltraViolet demanding that Republican politicians in Texas stop exploiting the coronavirus pandemic and emergency response to attack reproductive freedom and limit abortion access.