The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade through the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on June 24, 2022, dismantling the constitutional right to abortion that stood for nearly 50 years and paving the way for states to ban abortion care. To date, abortion bans have eliminated the right to all or some abortions in 21 U.S. states.
Residents of the District of Columbia face a unique peril. With no voting representation in Congress and a legal framework requiring that laws passed in the District pass a Congressional review, anti-abortion rights lawmakers from other states — who do not represent Washingtonians — may try to enact federal laws specifically to deny DC residents access to abortion care. Already, the Dornan Amendment prohibits DC from using locally-raised tax dollars to fund abortion care.
Despite the Court’s failure to defend this fundamental freedom, abortion is still legal in DC, Maryland, and Virginia, and Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, DC (PPMW) is committed to providing care to all who come to us in need.
As the oldest and largest provider of reproductive health services in the area, with health centers in DC and Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties in Maryland, PPMW knows that personal medical decisions about people’s sexual and reproductive health should be made by patients. Politicians and judges should never be making personal medical decisions about other people’s bodies.
Generations before us have fought tirelessly to gain and protect the rights we have today. PPMW will not back down. We will fight to make sure that everyone in our region has the power to control their own bodies, lives, and futures. We will continue to provide abortion care to our patients, including both patients from our local communities and patients who are traveling hundreds of miles from states with abortion bans to seek care at our health centers. We will continue to work with local elected officials to protect and expand access to safe, legal abortion here in the DC region, no matter what.
Updated December 15, 2023