American Samoa Democratic Party Rejects US Supreme Court Ruling for Roe v Wade

By: Tosimaeʻa Tupua

Email: tupua@opi.as.gov

The American Samoa Democratic Party has issued a press statement concerning the overturning of Roe v Wade in the United States. The decision by the US Supreme Court brings to an abrupt end the decades-long constitutional right to an abortion in the US, meaning state bans come into effect.

The press statement says, “The American Samoa Democratic Party vehemently rejects the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on Roe v Wade. This ruling goes beyond personal choice and freedom. It is class war; it is state violence against women. Overturning Roe doesn’t make abortions go away; it makes it less safe.

Women of color already experience higher pregnancy related deaths. This horrific decision will impact tens of millions of girls and women across nearly half of the country stripping them of their dignity, bodily autonomy, and personal choice regarding the most difficult decisions of their lives. Women to include mothers that lack the financial wherewithal or that reside in states without exceptions for rape or incest will face criminalization and death. Knowing that women of color are more severely impacted by this decision and could die at a higher and disproportionate rate, the Supreme Court has made it clear that it does not value the lives of women of color.

Once a global leader on women’s reproductive rights, the decision on Roe turns the clock back 50 years in the United States of America making her an outlier to join the likes of Iran, North Korea, and Russia. The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg reminds us that ‘the decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman’s life, to her well-being and dignity. …

When government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for her own choices.’ While American Samoa does not provide abortion services, we must support the rights of those who seek to make these personal decisions about her own body. The Court’s decision may have us devastated and outraged, but it is more important than ever than we channel this rage into action. Because even though in this moment we may feel as though we have lost, we must keep fighting for the future we want.”

In Solidarity,

American Samoa Democratic Party Executive Board