JWI applauds the Supreme Court’s decision to protect abortion access.
JWI applauds the Supreme Court’s decision in June Medical Services v. Russo.
Today, the Court struck down Louisiana’s medically-unnecessary law requiring abortion providers to have hospital admitting privileges. Louisiana Act 620 was not designed to make patients safer but, rather, to shut down clinics and thwart reproductive rights. Abortion is one of the safest outpatient procedures; the real threat to women’s health is conservatives’ misogynistic overreach. The Court already found clinic shutdown ploys to be illegal in 2016 in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt. Its ruling in June Medical affirms that denying women abortion access is dangerous, dehumanizing, and unconstitutional. Abortion must be accessible to all women and girls; anything less is an affront to their health, economic security, freedom from violence, and equality under the law. Despite the Court’s defense of abortion access in this case, Louisiana’s law was just one show of force in a decades-long national campaign to control women’s reproductive choices. Conservatives’ crusade to undermine abortion access has triggered a public health and civil rights crisis that disproportionately harms women of color, who already face acute economic barriers to abortion access and discrimination in health care. Reproductive oppression is among our national failures in protecting the safety, dignity, and equality of Black Americans. JWI stands against the systemic policing of Black and brown women’s bodies – from racial profiling and brutality in law enforcement to attacks on their reproductive freedom. To continue the momentum of June Medical’s victory for reproductive rights, we call on Congress to step up and take action. Passing the Women’s Health Protection Act will defend abortion rights against state legislators’ unrelenting attempts to regulate abortion out of existence and the danger the Court’s conservative majority poses to Roe v. Wade. We at JWI will press forward with our advocacy for reproductive justice so that every woman can carve out a healthy and secure future for herself and her family.
Jewish Women International (JWI) is the leading Jewish organization working to empower women and girls by ensuring and protecting their physical safety and autonomy, promoting and celebrating inter-generational leadership, inspiring civic participation and community engagement, and engaging men as allies in ending gender-based violence. Inspired by our legacy of progressive women’s leadership and guided by our Jewish values, JWI works to ensure that all women and girls thrive in healthy relationships, control their financial futures and realize the full potential of their personal strength. The organization has long believed that bodily autonomy is a key component for women to reach true gender equality.