The Freedom From Religion Foundation has joined hundreds of rights advocates in an urgent appeal to U.N. officials to hold the United States accountable for its wrecking of abortion rights.
It has been over eight months since the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization repealed nearly 50 years of constitutional abortion protections. Since then, a human rights crisis has been unleashed across the country. More than 20 million people with the capacity to get pregnant now live in states where abortion is banned or heavily restricted. This exacerbates existing inequities for women and other marginalized communities, such as communities of color and low-income families, who already face major barriers to health care.
Abortion access is a human rights issue and should be treated as such. While other traditionally religious countries like Ireland and Mexico have liberalized abortion care, the United States has become an outlier. The international community deserves to have a first-hand look at this human rights crisis and respond accordingly. That’s why FFRF has come together with hundreds of other organizations, such as Amnesty International and Center for Reproductive Rights, and individuals to demand that human rights experts and health practitioners hold the United States responsible for failing to uphold human rights obligations.
“The United States is one of only five nations, including Iran, that have failed to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women — and that’s because of theopolitical opposition,” says Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. “It’s heartening to see so many organizations and individuals point out that anti-abortion bans violate international law.”
Read the full letter here.