Stand.earth responds to SCOTUS overturning Roe v. Wade

June 27, 2022

Like many, we’d steeled ourselves for the worst. That didn’t make last week’s verdict on Dobbs, and the end of Roe any less of a shock for all it entails about sexual and reproductive health and rights, privacy, and more.

Before we go any further, let’s address why a climate organization is holding forth, at all, on this issue. It’s simple, and goes back to what Todd Paglia, executive director of Stand.earth said when the draft leading up to last week was first leaked:

A small group of people, out of step with the majority of Americans, are shaping our laws with generational consequences. And that is as true for Roe as it is for a host of other issues, not the least of which is the climate crisis. 

The majority of Americans clearly want a different reality than what the Court would like us to live with as of last Friday. And not just about Roe. On Thursday of last week, our elected representatives – finally, after entirely too many casualties – passed bipartisan gun control legislation the same week the Court, well, didn’t. Because the majority has wanted better gun safety for decades. Just as it wants wider and protected access to sexual and reproductive health care and rights, including abortion care, and has long wanted action on better climate policy.

But a small minority – literally, given that the conservative wing of the Court is now fully made up of judges appointed by two presidents who lost the popular vote – continues to block both access and action. We saw it with Roe last week, when the court undid 50 years of settled law. The same court is now set to rule on a case directly involving climate.

As we’ve said before, elections have consequences. But Roe is now a generational fight that will outlast what the ballots say this fall.

If you are looking for action, the best antidote to despair, here are key resources on how you can support and widen access to sexual and reproductive health, rights, and privacy for all.

HOW TO SHOW UP FOR ABORTION ACCESS – an open and well-sourced list of how to talk about abortion (say the word out loud), organizations you can send money to, actions you can take.

MORE READING: The Climate Reality of Roe, Atmos Magazine