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
|