YDI Response to SCOTUS Draft Leak

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. May 3, 2022 — The leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court of the United States is one many warned of and we have fought to prevent. Roe v. Wade must be codified and made the law of the land to protect safe access to healthcare and further the freedom of millions of women. Unlike conservatives and Republicans, we respect the dignity of women. We respect a woman’s right to exercise her freedoms, and we respect the autonomy each of us has over our own bodies. 

A threat to a woman’s freedom anywhere is a threat to all of us—especially young people here in Illinois. To the north, south, west, and east of us, Republican-held state legislatures have looked to strip women of their right to safe abortions. They have taken their lead from Republicans in Washington and from a Supreme Court whose majority—we now know—has no interest in protecting our lives, freedom, and dignity. 

This effort to erode abortion rights in a country with no universal healthcare, paid maternity leave, universal or subsidized childcare, and plagued by an increasingly high maternal mortality rate will cause pain and suffering for millions. This opinion will only encourage conservatives and Republicans nationwide to continue their anti-choice and anti-freedom agenda of stripping civil rights and liberties from any and all they view as an “other.” 

We will not stand by as young Democrats to see the rights that so many fought for being stripped from us. We will continue to fight both here in Illinois and across our country to expand our freedom. The fight ahead may be hard but as long as our collective will remains, the will of a people standing on the side of justice against oppressive tyranny, we will build a prosperous future for all and protect the vulnerable each step of the way.