PRESS RELEASE: C-Fam Asks Supreme Court to Declare Abortion is Not an International Right

By C-Fam Staff | July 28, 2021

C-Fam’s lawyers submitted a friend of the court brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case. Pro-life legal experts believe the court may be finally ready to overturn Roe v. Wade. C-Fam’s amicus brief argues that it is not enough to reverse Roe v. Wade.

“The Court should not just overturn Roe v. Wade. It should also declare that protections for children in the womb are consistent with U.S. human rights obligations. The court has the responsibility to say what the law is,” said C-Fam Vice-President for Legal Studies Stefano Gennarini.

“Children in the womb were never excluded from the right to life in international law and international law does not establish a human right to abortion in any circumstance, either through treaty obligation or by custom,” Gennarini said.

C-Fam’s brief argues that the Supreme Court should define the obligations of the U.S. government under international law because of interference in legislative debates about abortion by foreign countries and the United Nations system at the federal and state level.

“Reversing Roe v. Wade can undo a lot of damage to the rule of law around the world from judicial activism. But it is not enough because abortion groups now claim that abortion is an international human right,” Gennarini said.

“We now have two decades of views and recommendations from United Nations human rights officials claiming that abortion is an international human right. The Supreme Court could just ignore them if it wants but it would be better to rebut them,” Gennarini said.

“If the Supreme Court does not address the legal status of children in the womb in international human rights law, then unaccountable United Nations experts will,” Gennarini warned.

Contact: media@c-fam.org

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