Celebrating and defending 45 years of Roe v. Wade

Jan. 22, 2018 marks the 45th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, which affirmed a woman’s right to an abortion and her fundamental right to privacy under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. It didn’t simply legalize abortion. It has given millions of women more control of their bodies and reproductive choices, increased women’s economic mobility and lifted women out of poverty.

Extremist right-wing Republicans want to control women’s bodies and keep women in their place. They have spent 45 years trying to undo Roe and roll back women’s rights using any means necessary. They have used overzealous lawsuits, misogynistic and unconstitutional state and local laws, and dangerous and exceptionally cruel federal legislation. They mandate waiting periods and ultrasounds. They impose medically unnecessary rules for abortion providers that close clinics and intimidate doctors. They threaten to jail medical professionals who perform abortions. They refuse to grant exceptions even is cases of rape, incest or danger to the health of the pregnant person.

During the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump claimed women themselves should be punished for having an abortion. More recently, his administration has tried to prevent at least four undocumented minors from getting abortions.

These attacks keep women, especially low-income women and women of color, from having autonomy over their bodies and lives and reinforce the misogynistic belief that women are not capable of making their own decisions.

That’s why, for over 30 years, whenever abortion rights are under attack by right-wing extremists, CREDO and our members have been there to defend them.

Since 1985, we have donated nearly $10 million to progressive causes fighting for women’s rights – with $7 million going to organizations defending abortion rights – and we’re proud to be Planned Parenthood’s largest corporate donor. Recently, CREDO Mobile was given the Best Corporate Giving for Gender Equality award by Philanthropy Women for our commitment to gender equity funding.

Our activism at the state and federal levels has successfully helped to stop extreme Republican legislation banning abortion, and we continue to hold lawmakers of any political party accountable for rhetoric or actions aimed at undermining women’s legal right to an abortion. We will never waver in our commitment to protect, defend and expand this right.

We hope we can count on you to join us.