Washington among 20 states that have joined the new Reproductive Freedom Alliance

OLYMPIA — On Tuesday, governors in 20 states, including Washington, announced the launch of the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, a non-partisan coalition committed to protecting and expanding reproductive health care in their states.

According to a news release from Gov. Jay Inslee’s Office, the alliance will work to strengthen reproductive freedom in the face of an “unprecedented assault on abortion access and other forms of reproductive health care by states hostile to abortion rights and judges who are advancing their ideological agenda.”

“This is an issue of freedom,” Inslee said in a statement. “Patients must have the freedom to make personal reproductive care decisions for themselves, without interference by activist politicians. Washington is taking strong action to protect these freedoms for every patient and provider in our state, and we are all in on the fight to protect a person’s right to an abortion across the country.”

Major funding for the Alliance is provided by the California Wellness Foundation with additional support from the Rosenberg Foundation.

So far, in addition to Washington state, the governor-led alliance includes the states of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

Those states contain nearly 170 million people, according to the news release. Elsewhere, more than 36 million women have lost access to reproductive health care since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the release says.

“Here in Illinois, we know that abortion is healthcare and believe that a medical decision should be made between a patient and their doctor — not by extremist politicians,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a statement. “As Illinois remains a beacon for reproductive healthcare in a region increasingly plagued by inhumane restrictions, I’m proud to join my fellow Governors to help fulfill the promise I made when Roe v. Wade was overturned: We will not go backwards.”

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said, “With reproductive rights under attack across the country, it’s up to governors to safeguard women’s rights and their access to health care. North Carolina is a critical access point for women seeking reproductive health care, and the freedom to choose is a fundamental right we’re working hard to protect.”