Contact: Heidi Gerbracht, heidi@equityagenda.org

512.364.9447

June 30, 2022

Women Mayors and Allies Open Letter re. Abortion Access and Supreme Court Decision

Context News: The Women Mayors Network and allied mayors will be meeting with the Biden Administration on July 13  to discuss abortion access in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. 

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As women mayors together with allied mayors, we the undersigned state our unequivocal opposition to the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning Roe v. Wade. In one stroke, the Supreme Court dealt a devastating blow to reproductive freedom, taking away a right that residents in our Country have relied upon for nearly 50 years.

We were appalled when we read the leaked Supreme Court decision in May, and we are deeply disturbed that in the intervening month the Court did not reconsider its stance after the public outrage that followed.

The vast majority of Americans do not believe that the State should limit the reproductive choices of its residents – we know this because as local officials we talk to ordinary Americans every day.  Our daily work is focused on keeping our communities healthy and safe and ensuring people can live their lives with dignity.  Most Americans believe that the right to control one’s own body is a fundamental right, and the ability to decide one’s own future is a fundamental American value. Americans agree that few decisions are more significant and personal than the choice of whether and when to have children.

The ruling will not only result in a patchwork of unequal laws among the states, but the impact of the decision will reverberate deeply and be felt most painfully by the least empowered of our residents.

We commit to taking all meaningful actions that are available to us as local elected officials: specifically, actions that safeguard our clinics and our residents who are seeking abortion services or helping others do so and funding services and logistical support whenever possible, and to organize with residents and activists to support actions that expand access to abortion care.

Lastly, we recognize the important gender-based precedents arising from Roe v. Wade, including contraception, LGBTQ+ rights, the right to marry someone of another race, and others are now at risk. We recognize the intersectional results of this action, and we commit to organizing across movements to make change.  

The Supreme Court has failed us, and it is now up to we the people to make our views clear – we implore everyone to vote! 

Signatories:

Women Mayors

Nicola Armacost, Hastings-on-Hudson NY

Stellartean Jones, Gray Court SC

Elaine O’Neal, Durham NC

Kathy Sheehan, Albany NY

Maria Regan Gonzalez, Richfield MN

Shawyn Patterson-Howard, Mount Vernon NY

Rosalynn Bliss, Grand Rapids, MI

Lori E. Lightfoot, Chicago IL

Pam Hemminger, Chapel Hill NC

Kate Stewart, Takoma Park MD

Mary Lou Pauly, Issaquah WA

Victoria Woodards, Tacoma WA

Christine Hunschofsky, Former Mayor, Parkland FL 

Catherine Blakespear, Encinitas CA

Mary-Ann Baldwin, Raleigh NC 

Breea Clark, Norman OK

Felicia M. Brunson, West Park FL

Erin Mendenhall, Salt Lake City UT

Emily Larson, Duluth MN

Michelle Davis-Younger, Manassas VA

Georgine Welo, South Euclid OH

Deqa Dhalac, South Portland ME 

Linda Redmon, Snohomish WA

Satya Rhodes-Conway, Madison WI

Kim Norton, Rochester MN

María Rivera, Central Falls RI

Tishaura O. Jones, St. Louis MO

Karen G. Brown, Tarrytown NY

Jaclyn Veasy, Evesham NJ

Lindsey Horvath, Former Mayor, West Hollywood CA

Angela Birney, Redmond WA

Lacey Beaty, Beaverton OR

Lorraine Walsh, Larchmont NY

Jaimie A. Fender, King City OR 

Deanna Reed, Harrisonburg VA

Jane Castor, Tampa FL

Leslie Hager-Smith, Blacksburg VA

Paige G. Cognetti, Scranton PA

Libby Schaaf, Oakland CA

Lily Mei, Fremont CA

Indya Kincannon, Knoxville TN

Teri Johnston, Key West FL

Ella Jones, Ferguson MO

Celina R. Benitez, Mount Rainier MD 

Jules Walters, West Linn OR

Mary O’Connor, Monona WI 

Shari Cantor, West Hartford CT

Kate Colin, San Rafael CA

Nancy Rotering, Highland Park IL

Nancy Kaboolian, Ardsley NY

Laura Weinberg, Golden CO

Kate Snyder, Portland ME

Martha Guerrero, West Sacramento CA

Farrrah Khan, Irvine CA

Katie Rosenberg, Wausau WI

Vicki Scaman, Oak Park IL

Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft, Alameda CA

Kristine Lott, Winooski VT

Cassie Franklin, Everett WA

Mary Casillas Salas, Chula Vista CA

Carolyn Clow, McFarland WI

Danene Sorace, Lancaster PA

Lauren McLean, Boise ID

Latoya Cantrell, New Orleans LA

Sandra Vincent, McDonough GA

Kim Driscoll, Salem MA 

Mary Parham Copelan, Milledgeville GA

Allied Mayors

Michael Hancock, Denver CO

Robert Eastern, East St. Louis IL

Chokwe Lumumba, Jackson MS

Aftab Pureval, Cincinnati OH

Quinton Lucas, Kansas City MO

Justin Bibb, Cleveland OH

Randall Woodfin, Birmingham AL

Melvin Carter, St. Paul MN

Levar Stoney, Richmond VA

Andre Dickens, Atlanta  GA

Adrian Perkins, Shreveport LA

Steve Adler, Austin TX

Tim Rogers, New Paltz NY

Chance Mullen, Pelham NY

Tom Roach, White Plains NY

Mat Tuerk, Allentown PA