Three years post-Dobbs, reproductive freedom is under attack as political violence escalates

June 24. 2025

For Immediate Release
Jun 24, 2025

Media Contact
Nazirah Ahmad
[email protected]

Statement by Noreen Farrell, Executive Director of Equal Rights Advocates (ERA), which fights for gender justice in workplaces and schools across the country

June 24, 2025 — Three years after the Supreme Court’s devastating Dobbs decision stripped away constitutional protections for reproductive freedom, we face not only the predicted economic catastrophe but a terrifying escalation of political violence targeting women’s rights advocates. The recent assassination of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman—a champion of reproductive rights—alongside the attempted murder of State Senator John Hoffman – demonstrates the deadly consequences of anti-choice extremism.

Equal Rights Advocates warned that Dobbs would unleash more than legal restrictions—it would legitimize extremism. Now we see the tragic fulfillment of that prediction. This administration’s policies represent calculated economic warfare against women, particularly low-income women and women of color. The case of Adriana Smith last week illustrates the extreme consequences of the Dobbs decision—a pregnant Black woman denied medical care, becoming a brain-dead incubator for a fetus against her medical directive and her family’s wishes. This wildly unethical experiment would never have happened if this country respected, recognized, and guaranteed under the law the bodily autonomy of Black women and all those who can become pregnant.

But economic control was never the endgame—it was preparation for complete subjugation. When women cannot control their reproductive futures, they cannot achieve economic independence. When they cannot achieve economic independence, they become vulnerable to all forms of violence and control. Speaker Hortman’s assassination represents an attack on democracy itself. The administration promised their policies would restore order and traditional values. Instead, they have unleashed chaos and political terrorism.

Despite this violence, some states continue building protective barriers. From Gov. Whitmer’s expanded reproductive freedom legislation in Michigan to Gov. Murphy’s proactive stockpiling of abortion medication in New Jersey, state leaders are refusing to let extremism define women’s futures. But protection requires more than policy, it demands accountability for the connection between Dobbs, economic oppression, and political violence.

Anti-choice leaders who praised the Dobbs decision said that access to abortion should be a decision left to voters in the states. But that, too, was just a talking point. In November, voters in Missouri overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to enshrine access to abortion in the state’s constitution. Since then, conservative Missouri legislators and judges have thrown out the results of that ballot initiative and put back in place a de facto ban on abortions.

Equal Rights Advocates’ commitment to reproductive justice has strengthened in the face of this violence. We will not be intimidated. We will continue fighting for the fundamental truth that there is no gender justice without reproductive freedom—and no reproductive freedom without physical safety for those who defend it.

Noreen Farrell is available for interviews upon request, contact Nazirah Ahmad at [email protected] or (704) 290-6869.

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About Equal Rights Advocates

Equal Rights Advocates fights for gender justice in workplaces and schools across the country. Since 1974, they have been fighting on the front lines of social justice to protect and advance rights and opportunities for women, girls, and people of all gender identities through groundbreaking legal cases and bold legislation that sets the stage for the rest of the nation. www.equalrights.org