Speak Up for Abortion Rights

On December 1, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) heard arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a Mississippi abortion case that aims to ban abortion before viability. Dobbs is the first pre-viability case to come before the SCOTUS since Roe v. Wade and poses a direct threat to abortion care. Together with national leaders in reproductive rights and justice, members of SMFM's Executive Committee and Reproductive Health Advisory Group were at the court the day the case was heard. Join us in supporting access to abortion care using the tools below.

WRITE to your Senators and ask that they support the Women's Health Protection Act (S. 1975), federal legislation that safeguards access to abortion care from medically unnecessary restrictions such as waiting periods, biased counseling, mandatory ultrasounds, or multiple visits, The House of Representatives passed this legislation and now the Senate must act. We have a template email to your Senators to make it easy. 

JOIN SMFM's State Liaison Network (SLN) by completing this brief survey. This option is available exclusively to SMFM members. SLN members receive regular state-based policy updates via our new newsletter, as well as resources and tips to engage in advocacy in their state.

ENGAGE on social to raise the visibility of maternal health issues. Use #MFMsforAbortionRights or #WHPA in your posts and/or the images and sample messages below.

Images: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Have you contacted your Senators yet and urged them to pass #WHPA? Do so today! #MFMsforAbortionRights bit.ly/SenateWHPA

@MySMFM submitted an amicus brief to #SCOTUS that relies on the best science and dispels the myth that fetuses can experience pain during early pregnancy. bit.ly/analgesiaanesthesia #MFMsforAbortionRights

<INSERT SENATORS' TWITTER HANDLES, which can be found here> I am a maternal-fetal medicine physician with expertise in high-risk pregnancies. Access to abortion care is critical for my patients. I urge you to support the Women's Health Protection Act #WHPA #MFMsforAbortionRights.

READ Dr. Jesse Muñoz's blog about the importance for access to abortion care for high-risk patients. Consider sharing your story about why access to comprehensive reproductive health is so important to your patients via the Reproductive Health Project’s blog. Contact RHProject@smfm.org to contribute. 

LEARN more about the briefs that were submitted to SCOTUS in the Dobbs case. In its brief, the State of Mississippi argues that abortion should be banned at 15 weeks based on the false notion that fetuses can experience pain during early pregnancy. SMFM, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the U.S. Association for the Study of Pain, and 27 individual scientific and medical experts submitted an amicus brief to SCOTUS. The SMFM-led brief, relies on best available science in the study of fetal care, brain development, and pain.