“Today the country commemorates the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a milestone U.S. Supreme Court ruling that improved women’s health, dignity, privacy and economic security in deep and meaningful ways. That historic ruling stands today as a fragile but enduring victory, under relentless attack by extremist anti-choice lawmakers at the state and federal levels who will stop at nothing to turn back the clock on women’s health and rights.

It is a travesty that the House of Representatives will vote today on a callous and dangerous measure designed to prevent millions of women from obtaining health insurance coverage for abortion care. The House leadership’s political maneuvering, which includes switching strategies at the last minute in an attempt to appease anti-choice extremists without offending female constituents, is an insult to all women and families.

But it is far from unusual. In Congress and across the country, lawmakers are advancing and passing “bad medicine” laws that interfere with the relationship between women and their health care providers. It is still January and already, in Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky and elsewhere, lawmakers are advancing legislation that would require women seeking abortion to get ultrasounds that are not medically necessary, endure “counseling” based on politics and not health considerations, and ban the use of telemedicine for abortion care. When politicians play doctor, that’s bad medicine.

Roe is one of the most important events in the nation’s history. For women and for our country to thrive, it must endure and the attacks on it must end.”