CONTACT: Lauren McEwen, [email protected]
FEMINIST WOMEN’S HEALTH CENTER
STATEMENT ON SCOTUS DOBBS DRAFT LEAK
May 5, 2022
This week, Politico published a leaked draft of the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health in which the court indicates it will overturn Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court has verified that this leak is authentic but that it does not reflect the final court opinion.
This news, while horrifying, is not unexpected. In fact, attorneys representing the state of Mississippi explicitly asked the Court to overturn Roe during last year’s Dobbs hearing. The current makeup of SCOTUS and the subsequent ramping up of anti-abortion legislation across the country has already led Feminist Center and abortion providers across the country to prepare for a future beyond Roe. This leak does not change that reality.
But today, the fact of the matter is that abortion is still legal in Georgia, and our doors are still open. If Roe is overturned, 26 states have “trigger” bans in place that would restrict or completely ban abortion. Georgia does not have a trigger ban in place, but we do have a 6-week ban being litigated. If the court overrules Roe, Georgia’s 6-week ban will still have to be litigated in the courts, and abortion would not be restricted until litigation is complete.
The bottom line is: If you or a loved one currently have an abortion appointment scheduled, you do not have to cancel it. You can still access the care that you need.
Organizations across the reproductive justice movement are working tirelessly to put contingency plans in place, find ways to continue to care for patients and to protect abortion access at the state level. We know the courts will not save us, and the fact that abortion access is in constant jeopardy reveals this hard truth.
Roe v. Wade has always been the “floor” for abortion access, and that floor already had holes in it. Because Feminist Center is a southern abortion provider, we are intimately aware of the barriers our patients have already faced even with Roe as law. We further know that Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other communities of color in the southeast will continue to bear the brunt of any new abortion restrictions due to legacies of institutional racism.
The latest attacks on abortion access only serve as a continuation of ongoing violence against Black communities, people of color, gender-expansive people, and low-income folks. The fight for reproductive freedom is inextricably connected to our ability to shape our own histories, present, and future. But year after year in Georgia, we see legislation attempting to attack those capabilities by curtailling reproductive freedom, violating transgender dignity, criminalizing poverty, and policing how children learn about slavery at school. These attacks are about more than just abortion rights. It’s also about our ability to live safely and with dignity, and to live on our own terms.
Feminist Center is committed to fighting for a world where decisions about our bodies, pregnancy, sexuality, family, and safety are honored, protected, and treated with dignity.
No matter what happens at the Supreme Court, we will continue providing essential care to all who need it, and we will continue fighting for the liberation of all Georgians.
Feminist Women’s Heath Center (FWHC) is a reproductive health, rights, and justice organization. We provide direct services, education, advocacy, leadership development, and movement building with people across all axes of oppression so that we have the rights, resources and respect to make empowered, informed decisions about our own bodies and health.
