Sen. Raumesh Akbari slams decision overturning Roe: ‘We are going backward’

MEMPHIS — Tennessee Sen. Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, condemned the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade in a statement Friday:

The Supreme Court just reset the clock on women’s constitutional rights to 1972. This decision puts the lives of women in imminent danger by handing politicians control over our most personal healthcare decisions.

This is a stunning reversal of a decades-long expansion of our personal privacy rights, and, it’s disgraceful because it will not affect every American equally. Men’s reproductive liberties are completely untouched and protected.

In Tennessee, abortion is already a right in name only for many people, but, even here, the consequences for women will be swift and severe. Soon, a law from 2019 will make it a felony to provide an abortion in our state. As a direct result, the few abortion providers we have left will be criminalized and women and girls will be forced to carry pregnancies to term, even when they are a victim of rape or incest.

Those with economic means, access to transportation, and friends who can help them get around legal roadblocks will still be able to exercise some control over their own bodies. But poor women and many Black women, women who already feel the sting of inequity in our laws and economy, will feel the repercussions of this decision right away.

In this country, our sisters and daughters should have the same rights that our brothers and sons have, which is exactly why women should be trusted to start a family when they’re ready — without interference from politicians.

Instead, we are going backward and the extreme politicians who brought us to this point are ready to shred our rights even further.