Durbin Statement On The Third Anniversary Of The Dobbs Ruling

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement on the third anniversary of theDobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organizationruling by the U.S. Supreme Court:
“Today marks a sad anniversary. Three years ago, the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority abandoned the long-standing constitutional protections recognized inRoev. Wade—rejecting nearly 50 years of progress and dragging gender equality and women’s rights half a century backward.
“What has happened in the wake ofDobbswas as predictable as it is devastating.Republican-led states opened the floodgates, enacting draconian abortion restrictions with deadly consequences for women unable to obtain critical health care. We’ve also seen a full-fledged attack on reproductive freedoms at the federal level, including the Trump Administration’s Health and Human Services Department re-reviewing mifepristone—which has been deemed safe and effective for more than two decades by the FDA—and Republicans’ continued efforts to defund Planned Parenthood clinics across the nation.
“While I cannot sugarcoat the state of women’s rights followingDobbs, I want to make one thing crystal clear: this fight is far from over. I, along with my Democratic colleagues, will continue to fight against harmful partisan policies, unfounded in science or the Constitution, that put women’s health and autonomy at risk.”
Today, Durbin joined Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Patty Murray (D-WA), along with the entire Senate Democratic Caucus, in introducing theWomen’s Health Protection Act of 2025, legislation to guarantee access to abortion everywhere across the country and restore the right to comprehensive reproductive health care for millions of Americans.
As Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Biden Administration, Durbin held ahearingin March 2024 entitled “The Continued Assault on Reproductive Freedoms in a Post-DobbsAmerica.”  The hearing examined the continued and devastating fallout sinceDobbs.The hearing followed two previous hearings the Committee held, under Durbin’s leadership, on reproductive freedoms sinceRoewas overruled—one in July 2022andone in April 2023.
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