Impact Fund Statement on Dobbs Decision

The decision of the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is a historic loss of a core constitutional right. It permits states to police and criminalize millions of Americans for making decisions about their bodies, health care, and private lives. This decision violates basic liberty while endangering lives and livelihoods. This is especially true for Black, Brown, and Native women and people living with low incomes, whose health and safety are already jeopardized because of discriminatory barriers to health care.  

Impact Fund executive director, Jocelyn Larkin said: 

“We will continue to work across communities, in coalition, supporting impact litigation that preserves abortion access and the health, dignity, and well-being of those who are forced to live at the margins. We also call upon Congress to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act. Meantime, we commit to mitigating the harms being done to women and to play our part in the restoration of their civil rights.” 

As Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan recognized in a joint dissenting opinion: “The Court’s decision is a stark departure from principles of liberty, equality, privacy, and, importantly, stare decisis, which has traditionally bound courts to follow legal precedents set by previous decisions. In an outright abandonment of that guiding principle of the rule of law, today’s decision confirms that the Court has now adopted an alarming pattern and practice of ignoring stare decisis when it comes to fundamental rights.”  

We couldn’t agree more. 

06.27.22