Dear Colleague,

Next month, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in an abortion case that has the potential to correct the grave injustice set in place by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which has resulted in the loss of millions of innocent human lives. In advance of the oral arguments, many briefs have been submitted on both sides, and some of them cite international human rights standards or compare the law in the U.S. with that of other countries.

In her first Definitions article, C-Fam's Director of Government Relations, Alexis Fragosa, Esq., examines the international aspects of the briefs submitted and explains how appeals to a purported international human right to abortion are false and misleading, and why the U.S. has no legal obligation to take into consideration the opinions of UN experts in determining its abortion laws.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Oas, Ph.D.
Director of Research

The State of Mississippi asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Center. Legal experts believe the Supreme Court may side with Mississippi and overturn the 1973 decision that read a right to abortion into the U.S. Constitution, returning the prerogative to legislate on abortion to state legislatures. Oral arguments for the Dobbs case will be heard on December 1, 2021. One of the issues that may be raised is whether abortion is an international human right. It is a question of primary importance. If abortion is an international right, then, whether Roe v. Wade was correctly decided is arguably irrelevant because the issue will have been entirely removed from the hands of the American People. Read more >>>