NWLC Submits Amicus Brief on Behalf of 72 Organizations in Supreme Court Case Deciding the Future of Abortion

(Washington, D.C.) Yesterday, the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) submitted an amicus brief on behalf of 72 organizations in the Supreme Court case, June Medical Services LLC v. Gee. This case is a challenge to a Louisiana law that requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital – an unnecessary restriction identical to a Texas law already deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2016, in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt.

As the amicus brief makes clear, this law should also be struck down as unconstitutional, because it would deprive women of their ability to participate in society on equal terms, undermine their economic security, and reinforce outdated stereotypes about women’s role in society. By making it harder to access to abortion, this law imposes substantial and sometimes insurmountable costs on women and others who can become pregnant, threatening their financial well-being, job security, workforce participation, educational attainment, health, personal security, and autonomy.

If the law isn’t struck down, Louisiana will be left with only one abortion clinic to provide care for the nearly one million women of reproductive age who live in the state. The Court will hear oral arguments in this case on March 4, 2020.

The following statement is from Fatima Goss Graves, NWLC’s President and CEO:

“This case could change the right to abortion as we know it. Despite striking down an identical law just three years ago, new Trump-appointed justices and an emboldened anti-abortion movement are focused on taking away the right to abortion – no matter the cost. The harms imposed would be limitless, and will fall hardest on the overwhelming majority of Louisiana abortion patients who are already facing barriers: patients who are people of color, people living in rural areas, people who already have children, and people subjected to intimate partner violence.

“Deciding whether or when to have a child is a fundamental right central to women’s equality and people’s ability to determine the course of their lives. If the Court allows the Louisiana law to stand, it will give lawmakers across the country the green light to decimate abortion access and block this fundamental right.”

The following organizations join NWLC on this amicus brief:

Abortion Access Front

Abortion Access Hackathon

American Association of University Women

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees

American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO

American Sexual Health Association

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)

Anti-Defamation League

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance

California Women Lawyers

California Women’s Law Center

Center for American Progress

Center for Law and Social Policy

Coalition of Labor Union Women

Colorado Women’s Bar Association

Columbia Law School Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic

Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund

Desiree Alliance

Equal Rights Advocates

Feminist Women’s Health Center

Freedom From Religion Foundation

Gender Justice

Girls Inc.

Guttmacher Institute

Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc.

Healthy and Free Tennessee

International Action Network for Gender Equity & Law

Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health

KWH Law Center for Social Justice and Change

LatinoJustice PRLDEF

Lawyers Club of San Diego

Legal Momentum, the Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund

Legal Voice

Mabel Wadsworth Center

Maine Women’s Lobby

NARAL Pro-Choice America

National Alliance to End Sexual Violence

National CAPACD- National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development

National Center for Law and Economic Justice

National Consumers League

National Education Association

National Employment Law Project

National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association

National Institute for Reproductive Health

National Network to End Domestic Violence

National Partnership for Women & Families

National Women’s Health Network

National Women’s Political Caucus

Northwest Health Law Advocates

Nurses for Sexual and Reproductive Health

Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice

Partnership for Working Families

People For the American Way Foundation

Population Connection Action Fund

Power to Decide

Progress Florida

Reproductive Health Access Project

Sanctuary for Families

Service Employees International Union (SEIU)

Shriver Center on Poverty Law

SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change

The Women’s Law Center of Maryland

UltraViolet

Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Women Employed

Women Lawyers On Guard Inc.

Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia

Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York

Women’s Medical Fund, Inc.

Women’s Rights and Empowerment Network (WREN)

WV FREE, Advocates for Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice

Young Women United

 

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For immediate release: December 3, 2019
Contact: LySaundra Campbell ([email protected])