“Texas v. California, which will be heard by the Supreme Court today, is one of the most consequential cases of our lifetimes. Should the Court decide to overturn the Affordable Care Act (ACA), it will have devastating effects on the 67 million women with pre-existing conditions. Black women and other women of color, who already face systemic barriers to accessing health care, will be disproportionately impacted.

“Women could also lose access to prenatal and maternal care since health insurance providers would no longer be required to offer it. Affordable, preventive services, from preventive checkups, vaccines, cancer tests, and mammograms, would all be endangered if the ACA is struck down.

“It will be a refusal to honor Congress’ clear intent. Moreover, voters have signaled their choice in the recent presidential election as an overwhelming majority of them, 76,172,461 at last count, chose the candidate promising to protect and preserve the Affordable Care Act.

“We can only hope that the Court rejects this callous attempt to strip health care coverage from those most in need during a global pandemic. While the coronavirus has struck every sector, it has disproportionately killed Black and Brown people. And it has placed women at greater risk both as essential workers and caregivers.

“Depriving people of health care coverage, particularly the most vulnerable, amid the deadliest public health crisis in a century would be an act of unconscionable cruelty.”