For Immediate Release: April 7, 2022
Media Contacts: press@prochoice.org; 202-918-7768
Today the U.S. Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, making her the first Black woman in American history to serve on the nation’s highest court.
Statement from Melissa Fowler, National Abortion Federation’s Chief Program Officer:
“We are delighted to see Justice Jackson officially confirmed to the Supreme Court, and we congratulate her on this historic occasion. Justice Jackson has spent the majority of her career fighting for our basic rights and has an impressive track record of defending the constitutional rights of all people. As we head toward a monumental ruling in the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case this summer—a ruling that has the ability to overturn Roe v. Wade—we are grateful to welcome a Supreme Court justice who is committed to upholding our fundamental rights to equal protection, dignity, and privacy.
While Justice Jackson’s confirmation does not change the political makeup of the Supreme Court, her seat on the court as the first Black woman is nonetheless incredibly significant. Today, Black women in the United States are three to four times more at risk of dying in childbirth than their white counterparts and sit at a cross-section of reproductive oppression as a result of higher rates of food insecurity, eviction, incarceration, lack of access to contraception, and insufficient sex education. Dissent matters, and as the Justices decide the fate of cases that affect our basic rights and freedoms, they will hear from their peer who has lived her life as a Black woman in this country.
Earlier in her career, as a lawyer in private practice, Jackson wrote an amicus brief on behalf of women’s groups defending a Massachusetts buffer zone law. As we continue to see a concerning uptick in harassment and violence targeting abortion providers and obstruction of clinics from anti-abortion individuals, Justice Jackson’s own history of protecting abortion clinics from obstruction is all the more important at this time.”