On Saturday, October 2, 2021, before the United States Supreme Court reconvenes for its October term, the people of San Diego will join marchers across the nation who are taking to the street and demanding women’s right to reproductive healthcare be protected.
This march is a response to unprecedented challenges in the fight for the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities. On December 1, 2021, the Court will hear oral arguments in the appeal of Jackson Women's Health Org. v. Dobbs, and will consider whether pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions are constitutional. This decision will likely impact the continued viability of Roe v. Wade, and the threat to Roe posed by the conservative Supreme Court’s consideration of Dobbs is serious.
The Supreme Court’s decision to hear oral argument in Dobbs on December 1 comes just weeks after the Court declined to prohibit Texas’s Senate Bill 8 from going into effect. This Texas law, the strictest abortion ban in the country, bans abortion as soon as cardiac activity is detectable and allows private citizens to sue abortion providers and anyone else who helps a woman obtain an abortion (including those who give women rides and those who provide financial assistance). The law makes no exceptions for cases involving rape or incest.
Mississippi’s abortion ban at issue in Dobbs and Texas Senate Bill 8 follow similarly restrictive bans on pre-viability abortions passed in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Tennessee. Indeed, more abortion restrictions have been enacted in 2021 than in any year since Roe v. Wade.
Roe v. Wade is in serious danger of being overturned during the Supreme Court’s October term, and, if you are like me, you have been searching for a path forward. This Saturday there is something we can do—stand together and demand better for the women of America.
Join the movement this Saturday, October 2 at 10:00 a.m. at the Waterfront Park. Bring a sign, a mask, a water bottle, and a marching buddy. Post a picture of yourself with the hash tags #womensmarch and #lawyersclubsd and email your pictures to Lawyers Club of San Diego.
Meredith King is an Associate Attorney at Higgs, Fletcher, & Mack, she is a co-chair of Lawyers Club’s Advocacy and Reproductive Justice Committee, and is fairly confident that the Indianapolis Colts are going to win the Super Bowl this year, notwithstanding the fact that they are 0-3.
