EBCLC’s Statement on the Supreme Court Decision to Overturn Roe v. Wade

We will break this law.  

Women of color comprise the majority of EBCLC’s executive leadership team. Our staff consists of a majority of women of color. The most significant percentage of clients that we serve are women of color. Last week’s Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is unequivocally an attack on women of color. Already, Black women have a higher risk of pregnancy-related death due to racism. The Court’s decision is depraved.  

We are grateful that California and other “blue” states are committed to protecting abortion access. However, the nation's poor and working-class pregnant people of color will be the most impacted. They will be unable to reliably find safe reproductive healthcare. They are now more vulnerable to misinformation and the rhetoric of fear.  

We are honored to collaborate with reproductive justice experts and health care providers. We remain committed to the undocumented and African American pregnant people we serve through our medical-legal partnerships with Highland Hospital and other community health clinics. We will also continue to advocate for system-intended youth whose bodies are subject to government control. 

It matters not if “the system is broken” or, conversely, if it functions precisely as it was designed. As a racial justice organization, our fidelity is to our clients, not the laws that oppress them. Thus, we will disavow any institutional or structural efforts that will lead to the loss of life and bodily autonomy of women of color and their networks. As lawyers, legal professionals, and clinical teachers, this is our duty. As a women-of-color-centered organization, this is our fight.