Protecting Reproductive Rights

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Protecting Reproductive Rights

On Friday, June 24, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. With this decision, the Court’s conservative supermajority proved itself hostile to the Court’s own precedent and indifferent to the devastating impact this decision will have on the Court’s credibility. This is the first time in American history that our highest court has taken away a fundamental right.

The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs will inflict enormous harm on millions of peoples’ lives in every corner of the country. Moreover, the impact will be disproportionately felt by people of color and low-income people, as we have already seen in Texas where the Supreme Court has allowed abortion to effectively be banned since September. As a result of this decision, abortion could immediately be banned in over two dozen states and will be severely restricted in others. Those states that do protect abortion rights and have abortion providers will be inundated with pregnant people traveling from states with bans in place.

Dobbs requires a response from our government at all levels, from the Biden-Harris administration and Congress to local authorities. Reproductive freedom is imperative to our society, and it will take an aggressive and coordinated effort to begin to undo the damage from the Supreme Court’s decision. No stone must be left unturned as we work together to protect this fundamental right.

With Dobbs, the constitutional right to contraception and other family planning resources cannot be assumed to be safe. The fight to preserve reproductive rights intersects with this country’s pursuit of racial and economic equity – and increasingly with the need for Supreme Court reform. Dobbs is proof of the Court’s existential legitimacy crisis. This packed Court will continue to threaten and harm our constitutional rights and the safeguards of our democracy until it is reformed. This is another area where we cannot underscore enough that courts matter.

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Programs

ACS Northeast Ohio: The End of Roe? Texas, SCOTUS, and the Urgent Fight for Reproductive Rights

 

What does the Supreme Court’s recent acquiescence to the radical Texas abortion ban mean for the future of Roe? How quickly will we see copycat legislation across other states? And how can progressives organize around the judiciary and women’s rights to help curb the coming onslaught against reproductive freedom?

This all-star panel discusses the Court’s rapid turn to the right on reproductive rights, how radical state legislatures are pushing the envelope even further, and how progressives can organize and advance reproductive justice.

Speakers: Jessie Hill, Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development and ACS Faculty Advisor, Case Western Reserve University School of Law; Katie Paris, Founder of Red Wine & Blue, former CEO of The American Independent; Dr. Jasmine Clark, Georgia State House Representative, Red Wine & Blue contributor, Lecturer at Emory University

 

ACS San Diego: Reproductive Rights in America Today

 

The ACS San Diego Lawyer Chapter discusses the state of reproductive rights in America today! Presentations range from the Mississippi case pending before the Supreme Court to abortion legislation at the state level and poor access to parental leave and affordable child care.

Speakers: Tracy Skaddan, General Counsel, Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest;
Leah Litman, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Michigan School of Law and Board Member, ACS Board of Academic Advisors; Michelle Camacho, Executive Board Member, American Constitution Society San Diego Chapter, Law Office of Michelle Camacho, Moderator