Philadelphia Bar Association Chancellor Wesley R. Payne IV issued the following statement on the opinion by the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The opinion overturns Roe v. Wade, which protected a Constitutional right to abortion.
“We are disappointed in the Court’s decision, which goes against stare decisis, or adherence to precedent, and stands to create tremendous instability, along with damaging the public’s confidence in the judiciary,” Payne said. “There is longstanding legal precedent for the Supreme Court protecting the right to an abortion, including the decision in Roe v. Wade and in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey in 1992.”
“Throughout its history, the Supreme Court has only chosen to strip away or otherwise alter a guaranteed right under extraordinary circumstances. As Justices Breyer, Kagan and Sotomayor write in their dissent, ‘Those qualities are not evident in today’s opinion. The majority has no good reason for the upheaval in law and society it sets off…. With sorrow – for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection – we dissent.’
“This decision creates a crisis for women, a crisis for families, a crisis for our health care system and a crisis for our justice system. The true purpose of law should be to make things clear; this decision does the opposite. It goes against our Association’s core mission of promoting respect for the rule of law.”
