Source: United States Senator for Nevada Cortez Masto
September 20, 2021
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) joined 47 Democrats in the Senate and 188 in the House in filing a bicameral amicus brief in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, urging the Supreme Court to uphold nearly 50 years of precedent in Roe v. Wade and protect the constitutional right to abortion care.
After the Court refused to block the dangerous, cruel abortion ban in Texas from going into effect, Dobbs represents yet another case that could undermine nearly 50 years of precedent and potentially overturn Roe. The Dobbs case is a challenge from Mississippi’s sole remaining abortion provider against H.B. 1510, the state’s extreme law banning all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape and incest, and only narrow, inadequate exceptions for a medical emergency or in cases of severe fetal abnormality. The law is blatantly unconstitutional under Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which held that individuals have the right to decide whether or not to be pregnant prior to fetal viability. In 2019, the Fifth Circuit upheld a lower court decision halting the Mississippi law’s implementation. Cortez Masto has been raising the alarm on this case since it was first announced last spring, writing in Elle that “the stakes have never been higher.”
“This Court has made clear that abortion bans like H.B. 1510 are unconstitutional because they violate the right to choose to terminate a pregnancy before viability; the decision below should be affirmed on that basis alone. But as a matter of public policy, it is also important to recognize that laws like H.B. 1510 do not merely encroach on individual liberty and autonomy; they also do so in a way that disproportionately imperils the health and economic security of vulnerable populations,” wrote the lawmakers.
The lawmakers stressed that the only thing that has changed since Casey and Roe were decided is the composition of the Court—which is not a compelling reason to re-examine Roe. Therefore, the members emphasized that overturning Roe would represent a disregard for settled law, our legal system, and the Constitution. “Respect for precedent—a fundamental principle that is essential to our legal system, the legitimacy of judicial and legislative institutions, and the rule of law—compels affirmance of the decision below.”
The lawmakers also noted that the abortion rights codified in Roe and Casey have been settled law for nearly 50 years and 30 years respectively, highlighting that, “adherence to Roe and Casey is even more necessary to protect the settled expectations and reliance interests of multiple generations of individuals who have rightly understood the freedom to decide to terminate a pregnancy before viability as a firmly established constitutional right, and who have never known a world without Roe’s constitutional guarantee.” The Supreme Court has upheld the Constitutional right to an abortion as recently as 2016, in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, and again just last year in June Medical Services LLC v. Russo.
Senator Cortez Masto is a leader in the Senate advocating for reproductive rights. She is a cosponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would guarantee equal access to abortion everywhere. She was a vocal opponent of the Trump administration’s efforts to limit access to family planning and reproductive health care and worked to block federal court nominees who would roll back women’s health care and reproductive freedoms. Cortez Masto has advocated for legislation to protect women’s reproductive health, expand abortion rights, and improve and expand access to quality health care, including the Affordable Care Act. She has also supported legislation to expand healthcare options for pregnant women and prevent employers from discriminating against them.
Read the amicus brief HERE.
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