Fatima Goss Graves, CEO & President of the National Women’s Law Center, talks about the rarity of the Supreme Court leak and how a ban on abortions could transform the landscape of women’s reproductive health. 

Opening Bell

Leaked Documents Show Supreme Court to Overturn Abortion Rights

here to talk more about this Fatima Goss Graves, President and Ceo of the National Women's Law Center. Thank you so much for joining us. What was your reaction to this draft from the Supreme Court? I was horrified. I was horrified by the breath and scope of the decision. I was horrified by the way in which it was pretty clear that women were sort of ancillary to the decision. There was very little discussion about the specific harm a decision like this would cause to women's health, their physical health, their mental health, their lives, their futures, their economic well being. Um, and I was horrified as an attorney who has practiced now for two decades By the casual disregard in overturning of 50 years of precedent. I'm one of the many, many who grew up with an understanding that roe v wade and my right to make personal decisions about my body was mine. And so it was horrifying. And I think that horror, that fear and that real rage and anger is then shared by so many in this country. That's why they took to the streets yesterday. I do want to talk with you about that president in just a moment. But what makes this the most consequential abortion decision to date For 50 years? The Supreme Court has affirmed again and again over the decades, most recently in 2016 and then again in 2020 that the right to an abortion before viability that that right cannot be infringed upon. So you that is the reason why over these decades when states have done what you've seen states do recently, which is strike passed bans of abortion at different stages of pregnancy. That's the reason that they've been struck down. And 26 states joined the state of Mississippi in asking the Supreme Court to overturn roe v wade. And so what I think is likely to happen is in about half the country or more, you're going to see an immediate and acute public health crisis that is felt deeply and especially on women of color, on those who live in rural areas and are gonna struggle to get access to care on those who have very low income and aren't going to be able to pay to travel to leave the state. I don't know that this country is prepared for the wave of this level of public health crisis. We haven't seen anything like it. Yeah. And if this is overturned here, this changes years. You mentioned 50 years of precedent. Um how do we see this also relate to other freedoms here in the us things like marriage, sexuality and family life, also in jeopardy. So the right to abortion is among many rights that the Supreme Court has long recognized are among personal decisions that are guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, that, you know, many people think of them as their personal liberties. what it means to be an equal citizen in this country. That includes those sorts of personal liberties and that extends to access to contraception, your ability to determine who you want to be in a personal relationship, your ability to determine who you want to be in a sexual relationship with. And and recently we've seen that around the right to marry, who you want, no matter your sex. And and so when you think about the range of rights around personal freedoms in this country, this is about abortion today, but it is about the scope of freedoms on the table. Tomorrow. Fatima Goss Graves, president and Ceo of the National Women's Law Center. Thank you so much for joining us.