U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called on Congress to pass the Women's Health Protection Act following media reports of a draft Supreme Court opinion overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling:
"It's time for Congress to get off the sidelines and protect women's fundamental right to choose. The draft opinion released last night is an urgent warning of the threat an increasingly far-right Supreme Court poses to women's rights. We must act now before it is too late.
"Make no mistake: the legitimacy of the Supreme Court hangs in the balance. The Court's power rests in the faith that the American people place in it. If Roe v. Wade is overturned, it's hard to see how the American people can trust this Supreme Court to protect other fundamental rights."
Senator Padilla is a cosponsor of the Women's Health Protection Act, a bill that would guarantee access and the right to provide abortion services in the United States.