HSCADV Responds to the SCOTUS Roe v. Wade Leak

The Hawai‘i State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (HSCADV) is gravely concerned by the leak of a draft majority opinion indicating that the Supreme Court may overturn Roe v. Wade in the coming weeks in their upcoming decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Roe ensures the right to have an abortion and allows people to control their own reproductive destiny. Domestic violence survivors—and all people—deserve access to a full spectrum of accessible and affordable reproductive healthcare, including abortion.

Domestic violence is about power and control, and many abusers choose to weaponize a partner’s bodily autonomy and reproductive choices as tools of violence. Reproductive coercion is a form of victimization. Preventing a partner from having an abortion is abuse, and forcing a partner to stay pregnant is, unfortunately, an effective way of keeping them dependent and trapped in the relationship itself. When survivors can choose for themselves whether to continue pregnancies, it can mean they are safely able to leave abusers and create new lives for themselves.

All people, including domestic violence survivors, deserve full control over their lives and choices, including the ability to safely and freely choose whether or not to become, or stay, pregnant. We hope this decision is not final and that the Supreme Court will reconsider overturning this settled law. HSCADV also urges Congress to codify the right to choose and pass the Women’s Health Protection Act immediately. Survivors’ lives depend on it.

Hawai‘i was the first state in the US to legalize abortion. We are grateful that our state legislature continues to uphold the laws that protect our community’s access to reproductive health care, including abortion. We urge them to continue to strengthen these laws.

Read The Official Guide To Abortion in Hawai‘i here.

Warmest Aloha,

Angelina Mercado, Executive Director
Board of Directors, Hawai‘i State Coalition Against Domestic Violence