• Relationships & Family > Reproductive Justice

Decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Reveals High Court Has Abandoned Individual Rights

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, in a 6-3 ruling, the United States Supreme Court held that the Constitution does not protect the fundamental right to abortion, overruling the landmark decisions Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

“It is impossible to overstate how dangerous this is. The U.S. Supreme Court has done a complete about-face and held that individuals do not have the right to decide for themselves whether or not to continue a pregnancy,” said Imani Rupert-Gordon, NCLR Executive Director. “The majority opinion states that liberty, supposedly guaranteed to us all by the Constitution, is defined by an era when women of any race could not vote, hold property, or legally exist apart from their husbands, and when the citizenship rights of Black women and other women of color were nonexistent.

There is hardly a more egregious assault on individual liberty than forcing someone to be pregnant against their will. For the first time, the Supreme Court has reversed a long-standing precedent to take away – not expand – liberty rights under the Constitution.”

“As a result of today’s decision, some people will die because they can no longer access abortion care,” said Julianna Gonen, NCLR Federal Policy Director. “Others will have their lives ruined by not being able to make their own decisions about their health and their futures. And as Justice Thomas makes clear in his concurrence, which openly calls for the reversal of the fundamental rights to contraception, sexual intimacy, and marriage, the Court’s disregard for precedent poses a clear and present danger to freedoms that are of utmost importance not only to LGBTQ people but to every person in this country.”

Earlier in June, NCLR released an open letter signed by 91 LGBTQI+ organizations calling on policymakers at all levels and in all branches of government to do everything in their power to protect access to abortion care. And last September, NCLR, along with 22 other LGBTQ organizations, submitted an amicus brief in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization outlining the harms that would befall sexual minority women if the Court were to overturn Roe, and how such a decision would violate principles of gender equality.

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The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) is a national legal organization committed to advancing the human and civil rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community through litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education. Since its founding, NCLR has maintained a longstanding commitment to racial and economic justice and the LGBTQ community’s most vulnerable. https://www.nclrights.org