What The Roe Anniversary Means Today

Just a few days after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47thPresident, on January 22 we also saw the 52ndanniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision Roe v. Wade, the constitutional protection of a woman's right to abortion care.

Trump took the oath of office before a Supreme Court he packed with appointees he could count on to reverse Roe-and that's what they did in the Dobbscase.

That decision unleashed a surge of dangerous and deadly abortion bans, with 22 states now eliminating or restricting access in the wake of Dobbs. Here's the latest tracking from Guttmacheron state anti-abortion policies passed into law.

Guttmacher has also prepared this fact sheeton "10 Reasons a Second Trump Presidency Will Decimate Sexual and Reproductive Health," which includes what we know from Project 2025about how the Trump Administration could seek to block abortion access nationwide, including restricting and potentially eliminating access to mifepristone, reinstating the so-called domestic gag rule, that prohibits providers who are part of the federally funded Title X family planning program from referring patients for abortion care, and amplifying misinformation and stigma about sexual and reproductive health.

Republicans in Congress are poised to send President Trump new abortion legislation including a nationwide ban, repealing the law used to prosecute threats to clinics and, according to this article in the Hill,

"First on the list is a measure that would mandate health care providers try to preserve the life of an infant in the rare case that a baby is born after a failed abortion.   

The bill was panned by reproductive medical experts and Democrats for interfering with complex medical decisions between patients and their physicians. "

For years, NOW members observed theRoe Anniversary as a celebration of reproductive freedom, but now we use this occasion to remember what has not just been lost, but deliberately and maliciously taken away-and to redouble our dedication to winning back allour rights.