Open Letter on Dobbs and Roe v. Wade

The undersigned are attorneys licensed to practice law in Nevada. We practice in a variety of settings, including law firms, public interest organizations, government agencies, private companies, and universities. We are Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. We come from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, religious beliefs, political affiliations, and viewpoints. Many of us are mothers. We vote. We run for office.

The undersigned believe abortive healthcare is a human right protected by the First, Fourth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America. We agree with Justice Sandra Day O’Connor when she wrote in Planned Parenthood v. Casey,

[T]he State is [not] entitled to proscribe [abortion] in all instances. That is because the liberty of the woman is at stake in a sense unique to the human condition and so unique to the law. The mother who carries a child to full term is subject to anxieties, to physical constraints, to pain that only she must bear. That these sacrifices have from the beginning of the human race been endured by woman with a pride that ennobles her in the eyes of others and gives to the infant a bond of love cannot alone be grounds for the State to insist she make the sacrifice. Her suffering is too intimate and personal for the State to insist, without more, upon its own vision of the woman's role, however dominant that vision has been in the course of our history and our culture. The destiny of the woman must be shaped to a large extent on her own conception of her spiritual imperatives and her place in society.

We agree with Justice Elena Kagan when she wrote in Dobbs v. Jackson (dissenting),

For half a century, Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey have protected the liberty and equality of women. Roe held, and Casey reaffirmed, that the Constitution safeguards a woman’s right to decide for herself whether to bear a child. Roe held, and Casey reaffirmed, that in the first stages of pregnancy, the government could not make that choice for women. The government could not control a woman’s body or the course of a woman’s life: It could not determine what the woman’s future would be. Respecting a woman as an autonomous being, and granting her full equality, meant giving her substantial choice over this most personal and most consequential of all life decisions.

We decry the Dobbs opinion because it recognizes fewer constitutional rights for our daughters than Roe did for our mothers.

The undersigned further lament that ideological justices have undermined the United States Supreme Court’s legitimacy. In 2018, many of the undersigned joined an Open Letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee in which 3,695 judges, lawyers, and law professors implored the Senate to fully investigate credible accusations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh before his confirmation. We wrote:

Our concern for the integrity of Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation process is not a matter of policy disagreement or political affiliation. We respect the Constitution and our laws, and we hold the Justices who interpret them to high standards of ethics and morality. We believe that an act of sexual assault should disqualify a candidate from consideration for a lifetime appointment to the United States Supreme Court.

Our next Supreme Court Justice will have the power to uphold or discard women’s reproductive autonomy, to realign the boundaries around federal rules of evidence for victims of sexual assault, and to radically influence many other areas that disproportionately impact women. We demand a thorough confirmation process so that all Americans can remain confident in the fairness and independence of our Judicial Branch.

We condemn the political maneuvering in which rights to abortion, contraception, in-vitro fertilization, same-sex marriage, and same-sex intimacy have become vulnerable. **

The undersigned continue to support reproductive rights and freedoms, as well as the right to same-sex marriage, in the State of Nevada.

Sincerely,

The following Law Moms licensed in Nevada:

Katherine Barker, Esq.
Jeanna Bawa, Esq.
Jennifer Braster, Esq.
Shemilly Briscoe, Esq.
Stephanie S. Buntin, Esq.
Candace Carlyon, Esq.
Heather Crumply Harris, Esq.
Karen Anne Connolly, Esq.
Shelly Booth Cooley, Esq.
Patricia Doyle, Esq.
Lindsay D. Dragon, Esq.
Nakesha Duncan-Perez, Esq.
Denise A. Gallagher, Esq.
Denise Glasgow, Esq.
Jessica Green-Patel, Esq.
Abira Grigsby, Esq.
Janne Hanrahan, Esq.
Amy Howard, Esq.
Melissa Ingleby, Esq.
Shane Jasmine, Esq.
Maggie Lambrose, Esq.
Natasha A. Landrum, Esq.
Natalie C. Lehman, Esq.
Monti Levy, Esq.
Danielle Liss, Esq.
Dawn Lozano, Esq.
Tegan Christine Machnic, Esq.
Alisa A. McAffee, Esq.
Colleen E. McCarty, Esq.
Denise McKay, Esq.
Emily McFarling, Esq.
Samantha J. Mentzel, Esq.
Behnaz S. Molina, Esq.
Katherine Newman, Esq.
Christian Morris, Esq.
Rochelle Nguyen, Esq.
Andrea Orwoll, Esq.
Laura Marie Payne, Esq.
Shaina Plaskin, Esq.
Marni Ruben, Esq.
Allison Schmidt, Esq.
Jean J. Schwartzer, Esq.
Nicole Scott, Esq.
Jennifer Setters, Esq.
Rachel R. Silverstein, Esq.
Jessica Smith-Peterson, Esq.
Hardeep Sull, Esq.
Kristin Tyler, Esq.
Marissa Geffin Temple, Esq.
Zoe Terry, Esq.
Sarah Thomas, Esq.
Heather L. Trujillo-Booth, Esq.
Rachel Tygret, Esq.
Carlia Waite, Esq.
Hillary Walsh. Esq.
Sarah Weimer, Esq.
Stephanie Zinna, Esq.

The following Attorneys licensed in Nevada:

Brian Blackham, Esq.
Jessica Chong, Esq.
Lesley Elizabeth Cohen, Esq.
Lee Gorlin, Esq.
Jessica Guerra, Esq.
Athar Haseebullah, Esq.
William Horne, Esq.
Kostan Lathouris, Esq.
Joanna Myers, Esq.
John Piro, Esq.
Jennifer Roberts, Esq.
Timothy Wiseman, Esq.