Washington D.C. — Following the Supreme Court’s 6–3 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning almost 50 years of precedent protecting the constitutional right to abortion, American Atheists president Nick Fish released the following statement:
Despite knowing for almost two months that this day was coming, it is still appalling, shocking, and devastating to see it happen. Tens of millions of Americans have lost the right to make decisions about one of the most fundamental aspects of their lives: the choice about whether or not to have children. This loss of reproductive freedom will have catastrophic consequences for all people and families in our nation.
As we warned when Justice Alito’s draft opinion leaked, abortion is just one of the rights that is under threat because of the extremism and cruelty that the Supreme Court’s radical majority has embraced. Today, in his concurrence, Justice Thomas makes it crystal clear that contraception, marriage equality, LGBTQ civil rights, and others are next.
The overwhelming majority of the American people are on the side of greater freedom and equality when it comes to abortion rights, the separation of religion from government, protections for LGBTQ people, and so many more issues. But this ideologically biased Supreme Court doesn’t care. Their tortured readings of the Constitution, willful disregard of precedent, ignorance of history, and contempt for democracy were on full display today. Sadly, they will continue to undermine our rights until we take bold steps to fix the federal judiciary, including expanding the Supreme Court.
To everyone who feels angry or frightened or hopeless today, I promise you this: American Atheists will never stop fighting to protect the right to abortion, and we won’t allow these extremists to transform our country into the theocratic dystopia they envision.
American Atheists joined the Freedom From Religion Foundation on an amicus brief in this case. The Supreme Court’s full decision is available here.
