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The ACLU and the Supreme Court's Webster Decision

by ACLU

July 3, 1989

PRESS RELEASE

STATEMENT BY JANET BENSHOOF
American Civil Liberties Union
Director, Reproductive Freedom Project

The Supreme Court's ruling in the Webster decision sent an open invitation to anti-choice forces throughout this country to do away with the right to a safe and legal abortion. Five Justices of the Court gave every indication that they are ready to return this country to the days when women suffered and died at the hands of illegal abortionists. As Justice Blackmun states in his eloquent dissent, "This decision has given all of us reason to fear for the future, for the liberty, and for the equality of millions of American women who have lived and come of age in the l6 years since abortion has been legal."

Today's decision strikes a blow to all Americans who look to the Constitution and the Supreme Court to safeguard their privacy and freedom. The ruling is as much about politics as precedent. It is about intolerance, not justice. It will perpetuate the worst forms of sex discrimination by denying pregnant women full constitutional rights to make intimate and personal decisions about family life.

The court today also accepted three other cases that challenge the right of women to obtain an abortion. That means we cannot underestimate the grave challenges to women's rights, health, and well-being which lie ahead. The Supreme Court has opened the door to the elimination of birth control, censorship of health care providers, greater restrictions on health care for poor women, and renewed efforts to limit women's freedom in the workplace and at home. That should lead us all to question the integrity of a court that claims as its judicial philosophy judicial restraint while engaging in activist and full scale revision of precedent and the rule of law.

Because this decision indicates that we can no longer look to the courts to protect the individual liberties promised us by the Bill of Rights, we will respond with our own activism to win back the rights this Court seems so eager to take away-- in state courts, state legislatures, and in Congress. The courts have transformed the question of a woman's right to choose from a legal debate into a political struggle. The American Civil Liberties Union will join with others who believe in this right to make sure that we will win that struggle on other battlegrounds.

Justice Blackmun stated from the bench that he felt a chill wind in the air. The ACLU vows to protect American women from feeling that chill.

For more information about the decision, call:

WASHINGTON

Janet Benshoof 544-1681 (July 3 only)
Kitty Kolbert 544-1681 (July 3 only)
Leslie Harris 544-1681

NEW YORK

The ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project 212 944-9800, ext. 514. 516, 520

GENERAL PRESS INQUIRIES

ACLU Department of Public Education
Colleen O'Connor, 212-944-9800 ext. 464

 
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