Statement on the Ruling of Dobbs v. jackson women's health org.
Washington, DC– This morning, the Supreme Court of the United States released its 6-3 opinion in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which upholds a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion overturns the 50-year precedent of Roe v. Wade, upheld by Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992. Justice Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett joined in the majority, along with Chief Justice Roberts, who filed a separate concurring opinion that did not support the subsequent 5-4 strike down of Roe and Casey.
Yesterday, in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association. v. Bruen, the Supreme Court substantially limited the state’s power to regulate guns. Today, the Court handed the power to regulate abortion back to the states. Within the next month, near-total abortion bans will likely take effect in about half of the states.
In his concurring opinion, Justice Thomas called for the reconsideration of all of the Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell: three cases that currently uphold our rights to contraception, same-sex intimacy, and same-sex marriage.
In unanimous solidarity, the Maine College Democrats wholly condemn today’s sickening enforcement of control upon women’s bodies. We understand that the ending of federal abortion protection will hereafter have the most significant impact on the most vulnerable populations in our country. Moreover, this ruling will have severe and increasingly deadly consequences for our country’s socioeconomically marginalized population and people of color.
This direct assault on our constitutional right to safe and legal abortion is far from over. We can not let this blatant attack on our rights, and American freedoms spread state by state across the country. To this day, the State of Maine remains blue, but that is certainly not something we can take for granted. In such times of adversity, when our undemocratic systems of misaligned government have failed, we must continue to utilize our sacred right to organize and vote to show the world that we will not stand for such suppression.
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Maine College Democrats Press Contact:
Noah Forman, Vice President