Widespread Opposition to Abortion Bans and Criminalization of Reproductive Health Care
On June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court released its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The decision ruled that the federal Constitution does not contain a right to abortion. As a result of the Dobbs decision, abortion is now illegal or severely restricted in many states.
Since Dobbs, hundreds of organizations representing professionals in a diverse array of industries, including health, medicine, law, education, labor, social science, and human rights, as well as private businesses, religious groups, and advocates, have issued statements opposing abortion bans and criminalization of and restrictions on reproductive health care. This database demonstrates widespread opposition to the Dobbs decision and restrictions on reproductive health care. Some statements include wider opposition to pregnancy and health care criminalization.
Many of the statements describe the harms the Dobbs ruling has unleashed and encouraged, including criminalization, undermining the professional expertise and ethical obligations of health care practitioners, causing preventable deaths and worse health outcomes for all pregnant people, undermining public trust in the legal system, and more. In addition, they describe how the Court’s reasoning in Dobbs and the restrictive regimes it authorizes are at odds with standards of care, the science of pregnancy, the historical record, and economic security.
These statements are collected in the spreadsheet below.
Organizational Statements
Click here to go to a larger version of the spreadsheet.
This database is limited to standalone statements from organizations and does not encompass broader opposition expressed through legislative or regulatory actions. Statements date from the Dobbs decision to summer 2024.