AFSCME 3299 Statement on the Supreme Court Overturning Roe v. Wade

Statement from Kathryn Lybarger, UC Berkley gardener and president of AFSCME Local 3299, on the Supreme Court ending nearly 50 years of constitutionally protected reproductive freedom:

“Today, the United States Supreme Court decided to end decades of precedent by overturning a woman’s constitutionally protected right to have an abortion. This is a sad day that rolls back fifty years of progress on healthcare and women’s rights. It is worthy of righteous anger.

As a union that represents mostly women, immigrants, and people of color—the very people who are disproportionately impacted by this frontal assault on reproductive freedom–this attack is especially personal to our membership. Like the malignant extremism trying to erase Black history and Black votes, trample the rights of our LGBTQ+ siblings and build walls around our country, it subverts the principles of dignity and equality that have guided our nation’s pursuit of a more perfect union for more than two centuries.

This appalling and misogynistic act of judicial activism is a stark reminder that elections matter. That’s why we’re calling on all of our allies, both inside and outside of the labor movement, to organize as we’ve never organized before at the workplace and in our communities. The 30,000 patient care and service workers of AFSCME 3299 will never stop fighting to restore the freedoms and bodily autonomy that should be protected as fundamental human rights for women everywhere.”