Hillary Clinton Asks America To Stand Up For Abortion Rights

0
685

At this week’s grand opening of a Washington, D.C. site known as the Global Embassy for Women, Hillary Clinton delivered an impassioned stand for abortion rights amid Republican attempts to essentially turn back the clock on the issue, as Clinton summarized the situation. Recently, a draft majority opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court leaked that, if made final, would overturn the court’s prior decision in Roe v. Wade, which established the legally recognized nationwide right to an abortion. Outrage over the draft opinion has been fittingly intense and widespread.

For the Supreme Court to overturn its Roe decision would mean that handling abortion access would be left to state leaders, and Republicans in dozens of states would no doubt jump at the chance to oversee the implementation of new harsh restrictions on abortion, no matter the health consequences for those affected. States including Texas have laws already in place that would automatically ban most abortions if the Roe decision is overturned. Clinton remarked as follows:

‘I know this is quite an ironic week for us to be opening the headquarters, but in a way, it’s probably appropriate because no advance is ever permanent… There are always forces at work to turn the clock back, particularly on women and we know there still is a double standard about what is or is not expected and appropriate for how women make the choices in our own lives… We’re not going back and we are not giving in… We’re going to do everything we can to organize and agitate and motivate everyone we can reach [to ensure] the forward movement of progress that has been the hallmark of this great country of ours.’

The site that opened is the work of Vital Voices, an internationally operating nonprofit organization that focuses on empowering women. Alongside the late former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Melanne Verveer, a former U.S. ambassador for global women’s issues, Clinton herself helped found the organization. Separately, Clinton also remarked to CBS News that Americans should factor the impact on rights such as abortion access into their voting decisions. “It is not just about a woman’s right to choose, it is about much more than that,” Clinton said. “And I hope people now are fully aware of what we’re up against, because the only answer is at the ballot box, to elect people who will stand up for every American’s rights… And any American who says, ‘Look, I’m not a woman, this doesn’t affect me. I’m not Black, that doesn’t affect me. I’m not gay, that doesn’t affect me.’ Once you allow this kind of extreme power to take hold, you have no idea who they will come for next.”