Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Responds to Supreme Court’s Decision to Hear Cases Regarding Texas’ Vigilante-Enforced Ban on Abortion
For Immediate Release: Friday, October 22, 2021
Contact: [email protected]
Washington, DC — Today, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will hear oral arguments in two cases regarding Texas’ SB 8 on November 1, Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson and United States v. Texas. The Supreme Court deferred a decision about whether to block the law while litigation proceeds until after oral arguments, meaning that the vigilante-enforced abortion ban will remain in effect until at least November 1.
NARAL Pro-Choice Acting America President Adrienne Kimmell released the following statement in response:
“By allowing this unconstitutional law to remain in effect, the Supreme Court has once again abjectly failed to protect the constitutional rights of millions of Texans. The impact of this draconian ban on abortion is being felt in all corners of the country as extremist politicians race to advance copycat bans on abortion in their own states.
The Supreme Court has been stacked with right-wing ideologues who are hostile to reproductive freedom and eviscerating the legal right to abortion even as Roe stands. It is abundantly clear what is at stake: The future of legal abortion hangs in the balance across the country.”
As Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated today in her dissent, “every day the Court fails to grant relief is devastating, both for individual women and for our constitutional system as a whole.”
Just one month after the Supreme Court hears arguments in these cases, it will hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—a case challenging Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban that directly challenges Roe v. Wade and threatens the legal right to abortion. Oral arguments in this case are scheduled for December 1.
In September, the Supreme Court refused to block Texas’ SB 8 from going into effect, rendering Roe v. Wade meaningless for tens of millions of Texans. Texas’ abortion ban is one of more than 100 restrictions on abortion access that have been enacted at the state level in 2021, making it the worst year for abortion rights since Roe v. Wade was decided. The people hurt most by these restrictions are those who already face barriers to accessing the care they need—including women; Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and People of color; those working to make ends meet; members of the LGBTQ+ community; immigrants; young people; those living in rural communities; and people with disabilities.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, paid family leave, and protections from pregnancy discrimination—for every body. NARAL is powered by its more than 2.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.