For Immediate Release

June 24, 2022

ALBANY, NY - United University Professions, the nation’s largest higher education union, is outraged over the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion in the United States.

“By ruling in favor of Mississippi and its law that severely restricts abortions in that state, the court effectively overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling,” said UUP President Fred Kowal. “I’m appalled by the Supreme Court’s abandonment of a basic human right that has been recognized for nearly 50 years.”

“Today, the court robbed women and all childbearing people of a fundamental right to decide what’s best for them and their bodies” said UUP statewide Vice President for Academics Alissa Karl. “In so doing, the court has also sharply curtailed the right of working people to control their labor and determine their standards of living and life circumstances.”

The Supreme Court’s ruling is a direct assault on working families because the right to terminate a pregnancy is a labor issue at its core, Karl said. The rights to abortion choice and access are part of labor’s struggles for safety, equality and dignity in the workplace.

“Without abortion choice, women are forced to carry pregnancies to term, give birth, and raise children,” said Karl. “This is forced labor. “Forced pregnancy is forced labor. It is a violation of the foundational human rights of all people.”

“The choice whether to have children and how many children to have is tied up with compensation, health and child care access, gender pay inequity, and a whole host of matters that are integral to conditions we face as workers,” she continued. “Such matters must be decided by the workers themselves, and not by a conservative-bent court trying to legislate a draconian idea of morality.”

Kowal said that UUP will take action to stand up for abortion and reproductive rights for its members, in New York and across the country. UUP will work to elect pro-choice candidates, and push them to codify abortion rights in federal and state laws.