A coalition of Democratic governors has been formed with the purpose of protecting abortion access for Americans after Roe v. Wade was overturned last June by the Supreme Court.
Twenty governors, led by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, have formed the Reproductive Freedom Alliance. A spokesperson for the group shared that the partnership will allow lawmakers to share model legislation and frame executive orders to protect abortion rights.
While the alliance is technically labeled as a nonpartisan group, the members are only Democratic lawmakers. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper are among the top names joining Newsom.
“In the face of this unprecedented assault by states hostile to abortion rights and their enablers in the courts, we are pledging to work together to strengthen abortion firewalls across America,” the governors said in a joint statement. “This fight isn’t over.”
The research organization the Guttmacher Institute, which advocates for the right to abortion access, said that 44 states either have restrictions in place or have fully banned abortion.
Currently, the battle for abortion rights is focused on abortion medication, as groups look to appeal the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, used in a two-drug abortion regimen.
Another coalition, made up of Democratic attorneys general, has spoken out against the lawsuit from the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, an anti-abortion group, challenging the drug, NBC News reported.
The Democratic attorneys general have argued that restricting the use of mifepristone would have “devastating consequences.” However, a group of Republican attorneys general says that the FDA’s approval of the drug was “deeply flawed” to begin with.
The Reproductive Freedom Alliance shared in a statement that the decision from the judge could see the abortion medication “stripped” from clinics and hospitals across the country.
The Guttmacher Institute estimates that the medication accounts for more than half of all abortions nationwide, and the judge’s impending decision will have a significant impact on abortion access moving forward.
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