In Unconscionable Decision, U.S Supreme Court Overturns Right to Abortion

Thirteen U.S States will move quickly to ban abortion, and it is threatened in many more.
Author

Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights

Release Date

Friday, June 24, 2022

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Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, released the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to end the constitutional right to abortion:

“Extremist justices on the nation’s highest court and sworn nonpartisan protectors of our fundamental rights today set fire to our nation’s tradition of upholding past precedents that protect us, not casting them aside. Our most basic and accepted right to control our own bodies has fallen victim to an ideologically extremist majority of the Supreme Court that is now permitting states to police and criminalize millions of women, girls, and transgender and nonbinary people for making decisions about their bodies, health care, and private lives. This decision violates basic liberty while endangering lives and livelihoods. This is especially true for Black, Brown, and Native women and people living with low incomes, whose health and safety are already jeopardized because of discriminatory barriers to health care. Thirteen states will move quickly to ban abortion, and it is threatened in many more. The Court’s decision is unconscionable. Its flame can now quickly spread to other fundamental rights.

“Right now, our nation is facing a vicious and coordinated campaign by the right-wing to control our bodies, weaken our power, and make us invisible in our democracy. Making the fundamental right to abortion one that will be decided in state legislatures is a laughable pretense from a Court that just nine years ago in Shelby County v. Holder unleashed states to bar citizens from the ballot, especially people of color, by refusing to recognize how many states and counties continue to deny voting or gerrymander voters of color. But we will not be silent or stand still and watch as our most precious rights are consumed by flames of fear and folly at the expense of our democracy. We will continue to work across communities, in coalition, fighting for local and state-level protections for abortion access and for the health, dignity, and well-being of those who are forced to live at the margins. We will push for judges who will respect the right to an abortion and protect the civil and human rights of all of us. And we call upon Congress to right the Supreme Court’s wrong by passing the Women’s Health Protection Act. We will do so for as long as it takes.”

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and 15 other prominent civil rights organizations filed a “friend of the court” brief in this case. Read that brief here.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 230 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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