Washington Leaders React To SCOTUS Overturning Roe V. Wade
OLYMPIA, WA — State and local leaders around Washington are reacting to the Supreme Court's ruling Friday, which ended constitutional protections for abortion that were in place for decades, with the high court's conservative majority voting to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
Washington was the nation's first state to legalize certain abortions through a referendum in 1970, and voters approved a ballot measure two decades later that further protected abortion rights until a fetus is viable.
While Friday's Supreme Court decision will not directly impact the rights enshrined in Washington state law, Democratic leaders at all levels of government decried the sweeping reversal of national protections, including more than a dozen states with "trigger laws" that will severely limit abortion access, as in neighboring Idaho, where most abortions will be criminalized within a month.
"Today the United States Supreme Court adopted an extremist position and overturned 50 years of precedent upon which Americans have relied," said Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson. "This decision will harm individuals across our country by severely restricting access to safe, legal reproductive health care, and it will strain Washington’s health care network as individuals from Idaho and other states come here seeking the health care they require."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/washington-leaders-react-to-scotus-overturning-roe-v-wade/ar-AAYQ2RF
