May 3, 2022

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House
The Honorable Charles E. Schumer Majority Leader
The Honorable Kevin McCarthy Minority Leader
The Honorable Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader

Dear President Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McCarthy and Leader McConnell:

We write to you today to urge you to take immediate action to protect reproductive rights across the country. In the light of worrying reports about a draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization revealing that the United States Supreme Court is set to overturn Roe vs. Wade — which has long guaranteed rights that Americans have relied on for nearly half a century — it is imperative that Congress act quickly to ensure that all Americans continue to have meaningful access to reproductive health care and ‘abortion.

Reproductive health decisions are deeply personal and should be made by patients in consultation with their healthcare providers, not politicians. Despite widespread support for reproductive freedom, in many states across the country, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs that mirrors the draft opinion would immediately limit access to reproductive health care and, in some states, could even criminalize abortion, ending constitutional rights recognized for nearly 50 years.

Physicians are sworn to provide medically accurate information to ensure their patients can make informed decisions about their reproductive health and health care, and patients should have the right to make their own reproductive health decisions about the basis of this information. Indeed, the vast majority of Americans agree that these decisions should be in the hands of patients, who can consult with their doctors, their families, and their faith.

On September 24, 2021, the United States House of Representatives passed the Women’s Health Protection Act (HR 3755 and S. 1975). The US Senate has announced that it will hold a vote on legislation to codify the right to abortion into law. We, the undersigned governors, call on the honorable members of the Senate on both sides to pass this measure and on Congress to immediately take other necessary steps to codify the protections mandated in Roe vs. Wade.

The consequences of reversal Roe vs. Wade for millions across the country cannot be overstated. Our collective responsibility to defend access to reproductive health care, including abortion, has never been greater. Reversal deer will turn back the clock on reproductive health, and Congress must take immediate action to ensure that our nation does not roll back and that the rights of all Americans to access reproductive health care and abortion continue to to be protected.

Sincerely,

Tony Evers
Governor of Wisconsin

Gavin Newsom
Governor of California

Jared Polis
Governor of Colorado

Ned Lamont
Governor of Connecticut

JB Pritzker
Governor of Illinois

Governor of Michigan
Gretchen Whitmer

Tim Walz
Governor of Minnesota

Steve Sisolak
Governor of Nevada

Phil Murphy
Governor of New Jersey

Michelle Lujan Grisham
Governor of New Mexico

Kathy Hochul
Governor of New York

Roy Cooper
Governor of North Carolina

Kate Brown
Governor of Oregon

Tom Wolf
Governor of Pennsylvania

Daniel McKee
Governor of Rhode Island

Albert Brian
Governor of the Virgin Islands

Jay Inslee
Governor of Washington