FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMay 11, 2022
Jackson County Executive issues statement on Women’s Health Protection Act vote
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Jackson County Executive Frank White, Jr. has issued the following statement regarding today’s vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act:
“Today the U.S. Senate will vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act. Based upon the recently leaked Supreme Court draft opinion and the State of Missouri’s anti-choice “trigger laws,” it is clear that national legislation is needed to protect a woman’s right to choose in Jackson County.
“I urge my fellow elected officials on both sides of the aisle, at every level of government, to join me and stand up for a woman’s right to decide what is best for her body, including whether and when to have children.
“I am old enough to remember what it was like before Roe v. Wade and I hoped we would never go back to the dangers of the past – dangers that will impact different communities in very different ways. For example, a 2021 study found that non-Hispanic black women were ‘more than 2 to 3 times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related complication than non-Hispanic white women’ in states with restrictive abortion laws.
“We cannot allow decades of the fundamental right to choose to be stripped from women. If we do, it sets a dangerous precedent that will almost certainly lead to attempts to roll back protections for the same-sex community, limit access to contraceptives and fertility treatments, and possibly even interracial marriage. Regardless of the outcome of today’s vote, I vow to do everything I can to support women in Jackson County and across the nation to fight for their reproductive freedom and I ask you to join me!”