A dangerous precedent has been set

In today’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, a dangerous precedent has been set that takes away a fundamental right for the first time in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS). The control of our bodies, and Black bodies in particular, has always been a controversial and public matter. However, the majority of Americans believe in an individual’s right to choose. Why is the highest court in the land working against its own precedent and the will of the people?

Nearly 50 years have gone by since the passage of Roe, which gave childbearing people the fundamental right to choose whether to have abortions without excessive government restrictions. But SCOTUS has decided to roll back its protection of the people, by dismissing this hard fought and won decision from our own court system and included a process for debate.

Charged with ensuring the American people the promise of equal justice under law, the Court is expected to function as the guardian and interpreter of the Constitution – and it has failed. In a time that should see the evolution and expansion of human rights and equal protection under the law, the Court is increasingly politicized. Indeed, the Court has become a weaponized tool of the conservative right that is no longer operating in the best interests of the majority.

And we are clear that this weaponized Court will not stop with reproductive rights. As hinted in Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring decision, it will move towards dismantling other unenumerated protected rights such as access to contraception, marriage and LGBTQIA matters. Further, based on the logic used by SCOTUS in this case, we believe that precedent which ended segregation (Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education) is also on the chopping block.

With the end of Roe, and greater control in the hands of states, southern states in particular are likely to see an increase in abortion bans that will put the health of millions, and Black women in particular, at even higher risk. Just look at Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy’s dismissive comments from earlier this year about the maternal mortality rate of Black women and his blatant lack of respect for the health and well-being of Black bodies.

Our lives are at stake. Black lives are at stake and we are not going to let a Court that still doesn’t have a Black woman representative decide what rights we do and do not have. We know the fullness of our humanity must be protected and respected – at all times. While this decision is shameful, demeaning and dangerously violent, if we are forced to organize to expand or change the Court to protect the lives of childbearing people, then that is what we will do.

We will not go back to a time where ‘States Rights’ were the law of the land.

– April Albright
Legal Director
Black Voters Matter

This article originally published in the June 27, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.