YWCA USA Submits Amicus Brief to Supreme Court On Impact Striking Down Roe v. Wade Would Have on Young Women of Color

Honolulu – On September 20th 2021 in the state of Mississippi, YWCA USA filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court decision, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which will determine the future of Roe v. Wade. YWCA Kauaʻi, YWCA Hawaiʻi Island and YWCA Oʻahu stand with YWCA USA in urging the Supreme Court to protect reproductive freedom for young women and young women of color in communities across America.

Since 1973, young women have been guaranteed a constitutional right to make deeply personal and sometimes difficult decisions about their futures. Pre-viability abortion bans like the one in Mississippi disproportionately harm young women and women of color, core constituencies of YWCA. Stripping away this freedom will greatly endanger the education, health, employment, economic prospects, and quality of life of young women and young women of color.

Hawaiʻi has been a leader in affirming a woman's right to choose in her reproductive health. In March of 1970, before the Roe v. Wade decision was made, Hawaiʻi became the first state in the nation to allow abortion at the request of the woman.

We watch in dismay as the rights of a person's freedoms to choose are continually threatened in this country. We cannot watch from the comforts of our more progressively minded state and count on our freedoms here being ensured in perpetuity. That is why YWCA Kauaʻi, YWCA Hawaiʻi Island and YWCA Oʻahu join our sisters and other persons of color from across the nation in this fight to protect our freedom to choose. The implications of the decisions in the moment are too important not to.

“Young women would face significant harm as the first generation in half a century to enter adulthood without the fundamental right to decide whether and when to have children,” said Elisha Rhodes, Interim CEO of YWCA USA.

“The stakes for this decision couldn’t be higher - the right to access safe and legal abortion is essential to the pursuit of gender and racial justice. Armed with the knowledge that the right to determine their reproductive future was protected by Roe, young women have been able to invest in their education, training, vocations, and careers. Reversing Roe would limit the full economic potential of young women, who could be pushed out of the workplace or forced to limit their education and careers to accommodate pregnancy or childcare. Everyone should have the freedom and power to make personal decisions about their lives, families, and futures. We must stand firmly for a woman’s right to safe, affordable, accessible abortion.”

For more information on this decision and to find out how you can stand with young women at the Supreme Court, please visit the YWCA USA website.

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About YWCA USA

YWCA is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all. We are one of the oldest and largest women’s organizations in the nation, serving over 2 million women, girls, and their families.

YWCA has been at the forefront of the most pressing social movements for 160 years — from voting rights to civil rights, from affordable housing to pay equity, from violence prevention to health care reform. Today, we combine programming and advocacy to generate institutional change in three key areas: racial justice and civil rights, empowerment and economic advancement of women and girls, and health and safety of women and girls.

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