WASHINGTON, Sept. 20, 2021 – Today the ABA filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court again supporting a woman’s right to choose.
The amicus brief in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization urges the Court to uphold Roe v. Wade and its subsequent line of decisions. The brief cites the nearly half century of legal precedent, the irreparable harm that reversing Roe would cause women, and the disproportionate effect of the law on women of color.
The brief was filed in the challenge by the state of Mississippi to the 1973 landmark Roe decision, which held that the U.S. Constitution protected a woman’s right to an abortion prior to the viability of the fetus. The Mississippi law takes direct aim at Roe by banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, except in medical emergency or in cases of severe fetal anomaly.
The ABA opposes any law that prevents access to a legal abortion and supports the rights of women to choose to terminate a pregnancy before fetal viability or to protect the life or health of the mother.
The ABA is the largest voluntary association of lawyers in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law. View our privacy statement online. Follow the latest ABA news at www.americanbar.org/news and on Twitter @ABANews.