The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBTQ rights advocate, on Friday condemned the
Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
In a 6-3 decision, the high court
upheld Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban.
Mississippi asked the justices to
overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey,
the two cases that set legal precedent to abortion rights.
HRC said in a statement that the
decision will a “devastating impact on reproductive freedom for
women, non-binary individuals and transgender men.”
“When the Supreme Court is willing to
throw 50 years of precedent out the window, it proves that we are at
an exceedingly dangerous, unprecedented moment,” said Joni Madison,
interim president of HRC. “The Court’s majority opinion does not
reflect the will of our nation – two thirds of whom support Roe
v. Wade – but instead fulfills an extreme, out of step,
ideological agenda.”
“And it shows that all of our rights
are on the line right now, as state lawmakers will be further
emboldened to test the limits of our hard-won civil rights. Women are
under attack, LGBTQ+ people are under attack, BIPOC people are under
attack, and we are justifiably outraged. We cannot relent – we must
fight back.”
The fall of Roe, which was based
on the right to privacy, puts similarly decided cases on high alert,
including Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark case that
guarantees marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples.