On the Two-Year Anniversary of the Dobbs Ruling, Durbin Recommits to Protecting Women's Reproductive Freedom

CHICAGO – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement on the two-year anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court:

“For the past two years, the Dobbs ruling has sown chaos, fear, and division.  Abortion is now completely banned in 14 states, leaving large swaths of the country without care.  Some statewide bans include jail time for health care providers who perform abortions, or civil and even criminal penalties for loved ones who help women obtain reproductive health care.  Make no mistake:  Unless we act, more—and more severe—restrictions are coming.  The last two years have exposed the true aim of anti-choice extremists:   They seek a national abortion ban, and they are not even open to basic protections for contraception and assisted reproductive technology like in vitro fertilization.

“That’s why I’m committed, as Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and on the two-year anniversary of this disastrous ruling, to highlight how dangerous and extreme the reproductive health landscape has become for women and their loved ones.  Senate Democrats will continue to fight to protect Americans’ access to reproductive health care.”

In March, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing entitled “The Continued Assault on Reproductive Freedoms in a Post-Dobbs America.”  The hearing examined the continued and devastating fallout since Dobbs.  This hearing followed two previous hearings the Committee held on reproductive freedoms since Roe was overruled—one in July 2022 and one in April 2023.  Since Dobbs, the reproductive health care landscape in America has become more unsettled, resulting in women across the country—whether or not they live in states where abortion is restricted or banned—facing negative and sometimes life-threatening outcomes.

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