The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is a stunning reversal of legal precedent and the loss of a constitutional right that has been protected for almost half a century. The reversal of Roe v. Wade is not only a devastating loss of reproductive rights for women in the United States but it is also an affront to the fundamental right to bodily autonomy and to our privacy rights. Furthermore, it opens the door to legal challenges that threaten to weaken or eliminate other important fundamental rights and liberties.

Dobbs does not outlaw abortion in the United States; it simply leaves the legality of abortion access to each individual state. The consequence is that the choice of whether a woman has access to reproductive health services will depend on where in the United States she happens to live. Women of economic means who reside in states that restrict or outlaw access to abortion may have the financial ability to travel to states where abortion remains legal and accessible. However, low income women in states with restrictive abortion access now have no choice or options – at least not safe ones.

As a poverty law organization, MLRI is deeply concerned about the economic and racial justice implications of the Court’s decision. Women in general, and women of color in particular, represent a disproportionate percentage of people living in poverty. Low income women are more than five times more likely to experience an unintended pregnancy than high- or middle-income women. The reversal of Roe will profoundly harm low income women and women of color who already face inequitable access to quality health care and high maternal and infant mortality rates. Restricting access to abortion will not reduce the number of abortions; it will only force low income women facing unwanted pregnancies to either have a child or resort to dangerous and unsafe measures to terminate the pregnancy. This does not move anyone or anything forward – not women, not children, not America.

If anti-choice policymakers and politicians really cared about the lives and well-being of our nation’s children, they would spend as much time, energy and resources supporting policies that strengthen families and children as they did during their decades-long efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade.  Affordable child care, universal free pre-K and early education, child welfare policies that provide services and supports (versus separation) for struggling families, equitable access to health care, safe and affordable housing, and strong safety net programs that enable low income families to meet their children’s basic human needs – these are some of the real“pro-child” priorities this nation and its policymakers should focus on and invest in.

Reproductive rights and the right to bodily autonomy are fundamental and universal. Every woman in America, regardless of where she lives or her socioeconomic status, should have the right to access safe reproductive health care services.  Here in Massachusetts, we are very fortunate. Although Roe v. Wade was overturned, Massachusetts will continue to allow access to safe abortions. In 1981, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled the state Constitution provides an even stronger right to abortion than the U.S. Constitution. In 2020, the state Legislature affirmed and expanded that right by passing Roe Act.  And today, Governor Charlie Baker issued an Executive Order that protects reproductive health care providers in Massachusetts who serve out-of-state residents.

Today’s decision by the Court is a lamentable and shameful attack on our individual liberties and freedoms – and it is also an attack on women.  The reversal of Roe is only the beginning; more assaults to individual rights and freedoms are inevitable and we must be ready to push back against regressive and repressive tactics that move our nation backward instead of forward. Outrage and handwringing will not get us anywhere. Organizing and strategizing to maintain and restore hard-fought and hard-won rights is more critical than ever.

MLRI stands in solidarity with the many organizations in Massachusetts and nationally that have been relentlessly fighting to protect access to safe reproductive health services for all women. The fight is not over.