June 24, 2022
YWCA Cambridge is enraged, grief-stricken and appalled at the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe V. Wade, the 1973 ruling that guaranteed federal constitutional protection of abortion rights in the US. This decision turns the clocks back on reproductive rights by decades and it will have devastating consequences for women and other individuals who can get pregnant.
This decision is an attack on human rights, on bodily autonomy. YWCA Cambridge is adamantly in support of a person’s right to choose. That is, we are unequivocally pro-choice. Abortion is healthcare. And access to it is an equity issue. We know that lack of access to safe abortions will and does disproportionately impact lower income people, Black, Indigenous, racialized people, immigrants and people with disabilities.
And make no mistake. Canada is not where it needs to be on reproductive rights. Abortion is still not universally accessible here, particularly in rural communities. Now, more than ever, we must all work in solidarity to fight for protecting this human right and expanding access to it so that no one is forced to carry a pregnancy that they didn’t want.
YWCA Cambridge has fought for gender equity for more than 70 years and we won’t stop now. We will continue our advocacy to advance gender equity, to end gender-based violence and to expand access to justice for women and gender diverse individuals.
If you, like us, are enraged by today’s ruling, write to your MP and MPP. Tell them that abortion is a human right and we must do more to protect it and ensure everyone who needs access to it, has it.
