Many of us ended our night or woke up this morning to the bombshell of a circulated draft Supreme Court opinion that would upend a nearly 50-year-old precedent protecting access to abortion in the United States.

This was a draft and not a final ruling from the Court. Access to abortion remains the law of the land at this time.

But there is no doubt that if the final ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health is anything like the draft circulated, it will cause catastrophic harm to people nationwide. We are in solidarity with all those who are shocked and stunned by the reality that a majority of the Supreme Court has seemingly voted to turn back the clock on reproductive rights.

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If the constitutional right to access abortion is stripped away, it would revive bans in at least half the states. That denial of access to abortion healthcare will fall disproportionately on low-income people and people of color, including LGBTQ people who are at least as likely as others to need access to abortion. Such a ruling is not normal. There is no reason to upend a settled precedent giving people, rather than the government, control of how they live their lives.

Speculation has also brewed about the Court dismantling other rights, including watershed Supreme Court rulings that eliminated laws criminalizing same-gender intimacy and affirmed marriage equality. We will fight to ensure these victories remain the law of the land, and we will prevail.

But let’s be clear. Right now, LGBTQ people, and particularly transgender people, are facing an onslaught of horrific state measures across the country, including “Don’t Say Gay” bills and measures to deny transgender youth life-affirming support. 

In fact, GLAD is in federal court in Alabama this week fighting for our families there, to ensure parents of transgender children and their doctors are not put in prison for helping them access the lifesaving medical care they need.

We are fighting to protect LGBTQ parents and families by passing updated, inclusive parentage laws like the Massachusetts Parentage Act so that children and families are protected in MA and wherever they go.

We are fighting anti-transgender bills in state legislatures throughout New England, including right now in New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

We are fighting to expand access to reproductive and abortion health care by supporting efforts to repeal the ban on state funding of abortion care in Rhode Island.

We are fighting to protect LGBTQ-affirming school policies and fighting against laws that restrict what students can learn and talk about at school or that undermine inclusive school climates that are critical to student success.

GLAD has been in the fight for equality for our community for over four decades, including leading the fight for the freedom to marry and to build our families as we choose.

With your support, we will contest any threat to our hard-won rights and we are determined to prevail.