Author

Tara Romano

Tara Romano

Tara Romano is the executive director of Pro-Choice North Carolina.

COMMENTARY
hands clasped in front of a rainbow flag

Attacks on LGBTQ rights and reproductive freedom are from the same cynical playbook

By: - July 24, 2023

When the Dobbs decision came down last June, overturning nearly 50 years of legal precedent and taking away a previously established right, our partners in the LGBTQ+ community were standing shoulder to shoulder with us to protest the ruling. Together, we mourned this loss and braced for the intense and escalating backlash against bodily autonomy […]

COMMENTARY
Abortion rights demonstrators

How and why did my choices become a political statement?

By: and - May 13, 2023

For the past decade, anti-abortion lawmakers have needlessly and relentlessly attacked our right to bodily autonomy, and our right to access safe and legal abortion care in North Carolina. These lawmakers have been especially ruthless this session in their attempt to take away the right of all North Carolinians to access an abortion. Access to […]

COMMENTARY

Moore v. Harper is about voting rights, and voting rights are directly connected to reproductive rights. 

By: - December 7, 2022

Power-hungry politicians in North Carolina want to further manipulate our elections to allow them to pass their extremist and unpopular agenda, including further restricting or even banning abortion. One U.S. Supreme Court case could let them do it. North Carolinians from all walks of life made their voices heard during the elections last month, turning […]

COMMENTARY

On their 49th anniversary, Roe v. Wade protections are more important than ever

By: - January 20, 2022

Saturday, January 22nd, is the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in all 50 states. While the precedent set in that landmark case never actually guaranteed full reproductive freedom for all, it has provided crucial federal protections for abortion access in the U.S. for nearly half a century.

COMMENTARY

What’s at stake today as the U.S. Supreme Court considers Mississippi’s anti-abortion law

By: - December 1, 2021

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court, an institution that has upheld the basic right to legally access abortion in this country for almost 50 years, will hear oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. At the heart of this case – the most consequential abortion rights case since 1973’s Roe v Wade and 1992’s Casey v. Planned Parenthood – is a Mississippi anti-abortion law that bans almost all abortion after 15 weeks.

COMMENTARY

State legislature ignores real reproductive healthcare needs, showers funding on destructive fake clinics

By: - November 1, 2021

As the legislature muddles its way through another contentious and lengthy budget process, one thing that remains painfully clear is that comprehensive reproductive healthcare — including affordable access to contraception and pre- and postnatal care — is still not a priority for some elected officials. This unfortunately seems to be what we can expect from […]

Some specifics are new, but the tactics and objectives underlying the new Texas abortion law are quite familiar

By: - September 16, 2021

Abortion is a common and normal part of the range of reproductive healthcare services that people have been using for centuries, and the people who access that care are our family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and co-workers. The recent passage of the Texas anti-abortion law SB 8, like all restrictions, will not stop people from seeking abortions...

COMMENTARY

Lawmakers should let veto of disingenuous anti-abortion bill stand

By: - August 2, 2021

Though we are only halfway through 2021, this has already been the most catastrophic year for reproductive freedom in the United States since 1973 when Roe v. Wade established the constitutional right to an abortion. Eight states have passed unconstitutional abortion bans, and two, Oklahoma and Arkansas, have passed laws that seek to prohibit abortion in nearly all circumstances.

COMMENTARY

After nearly a half-century, attacks on Roe v. Wade continue to jeopardize reproductive freedom

By: - January 22, 2021

Today is the 48th anniversary of the U.S Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, a decision affirming that everyone in this country has the right to make the personal decision to access abortion free from government interference. People had been accessing abortion well before this 1973 court decision, but we’ve had 48 years of it […]

High stakes in Supreme Court battle demand that the American people have a say

By: - October 6, 2020

As we begin the third contest over a Supreme Court appointment since 2016, it’s apparent to more Americans that unelected lifetime appointments to our highest court represent more than just partisan insider political battles. The decisions made at the U.S. Supreme Court can and do impact our everyday lives, and in a democracy we should have a say in these appointments.

Reproductive freedom is in the cross-hairs this week at the Supreme Court

By: - March 2, 2020

On Wednesday of this week, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear its first abortion rights case since the Trump administration and a sharply divided U.S. Senate combined to empanel the high court's first solid anti-abortion majority in the modern era. The confirmation of the hyper-partisan and ultraconservative Brett Kavanaugh to the Court in October 2018 appears to have provided the fifth vote anti-abortion interests have been looking for – one that could potentially overturn 1973’s Roe v. Wade decision and roll back the reproductive freedom that has been guaranteed to at least two generations of Americans.

47th anniversary of Roe v. Wade – A tipping point away from reproductive freedom?

By: - January 21, 2020

As we commemorated the 46th anniversary of the historic Supreme Court decision Roe v Wade last year, our thoughts were on what may happen at the U.S. Supreme Court. Two thousand nineteen was the first full year of a high court firmly stacked with justices ideologically opposed to abortion, two of whom were appointed by a president who sees overturning Roe v Wade as a key to his re-election.