Amicus Brief: For Some, a 15 Week Abortion Ban is a Total Abortion Ban
"For most patients who have abortions at fifteen weeks of pregnancy or later, obtaining an abortion earlier in pregnancy simply would not be possible given their circumstances. Accordingly, for these individuals, there is no practical difference between banning abortion at fifteen weeks and banning abortion period."
Dozens of Abortion Funds, Practical Support Organizations Tell Supreme Court: Banning Abortion After 15 Weeks of Pregnancy is Same as Total Abortion Ban for our Clients
Earlier this week, Gender Justice and the Lawyering Project submitted an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court in opposition to Mississippi’s 15 week abortion ban.
We submitted the brief on behalf of a coalition of 36 abortion funds and practical support organizations. The brief discusses the barriers clients of abortion funds and practical support organizations face in accessing care before 15 weeks of pregnancy, forcing many of them to have abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy despite trying to access abortion earlier. For these individuals, there is no practical difference between a fifteen-week abortion ban and a total abortion ban.
The coalition of amici includes A Fund, Inc., Abortion Fund of Arizona (AFAZ), Abortion Rights Fund of Western Mass, Access Reproductive Care-Southeast (ARC-Southeast), ACCESS REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE, All-Options, Apiary, Baltimore Abortion Fund (BAF), The Bridge Collective, Carolina Abortion Fund, Chicago Abortion Fund, DC Abortion Fund, Emergency Medical Assistance (EMA), Florida Access Network, Freedom Fund Inc., Frontera Fund, Fund Texas Choice, Indigenous Women Rising, Jane’s Due Process, Kentucky Health Justice Network, Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity, Mariposa Fund, Midwest Access Coalition, National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF), New Jersey Abortion Access Fund (NJAAF), New York Abortion Access Fund, North Dakota WIN Abortion Access Fund (WIN Fund), Our Justice, Reclaim, Stigma Relief Fund (SRF), TBA Fund, Inc. d/b/a Tampa Bay Abortion Fund (TBAF), Texas Equal Access Fund (TEA Fund), Tucson Abortion Support Collective (TASC), West Virginia Focus: Reproductive Education and Equity (WV FREE), Women’s Medical Fund, Inc., and Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project (WRRAP).
More information on amici and their individual declarations can be found here.
Abortion funds and practical support networks provide a broad range of services to pregnant people seeking abortion care throughout the United States, including funding, transportation, lodging, and legal services.