ACOG Statement on Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health

Washington, DC – The following is a statement from Maureen G. Phipps, MD, MPH, chief executive officer of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG):

“State restrictions on access to comprehensive abortion care, like Mississippi’s 15-week ban, absolutely impose undue burdens on our patients. If this law went into effect, individuals in need of an abortion after 15 weeks’ gestation would be forced to continue their pregnancy to term. Laws like the Mississippi abortion ban fundamentally interfere with the patient–clinician relationship and physicians’ ethical obligation to honor and respect patient decisions about the course of their care. Abortion restrictions inevitably worsen inequities that already plague the health care system and disproportionately impact people already facing the most barriers, including people of color. ACOG’s longstanding position has been clear and unequivocal: abortion is essential health care and restricting this care is dangerous.

“ACOG hopes that the Supreme Court will once again rely on precedent as well as evidence-based medicine to uphold the right of patients to access safe, legal abortion care, as was established by the Court itself decades ago. Such a decision will protect and maintain access to care for individuals in Mississippi as well as the dozens of other states that have similarly passed legislation eroding and even outright banning our patient’s rights.

“Abortion access in the United States is in crisis. Across the country, politicians are advancing legislation that would impose professional, civil, and even severe criminal penalties on clinicians for providing safe, high-quality abortion care to their patients. The consequences of being unable to obtain an abortion profoundly impact a person’s life, health, and well-being, and ACOG will continue to be an evidence-based voice in calling for the cease and repeal of all burdensome and medically unjustified laws that create barriers to abortion access.”