Dear Members of the Paul, Weiss community:
As you know, the U.S. Supreme Court today overturned Roe v. Wade, in a 6-to-3 decision, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. You may also be aware that our firm has long represented the respondent, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, in this and related litigation. Today’s ruling is a crushing loss and a devastating blow to the rule of law and to the protection of individual liberties.
While access to safe abortions is still legal in New York and many other states, today’s decision reverses 49 years of precedent recognizing a woman’s right to choose. The ruling will have an enormous and immediate impact across the country. Many states have enacted “trigger” laws that ban virtually all abortions immediately following such a decision. Other state legislatures are certain to enact similar laws imminently. The decision impacts not just women who are pregnant or who can become pregnant, but those who can cause someone to become pregnant, and those who love someone who could one day become pregnant. Access to abortion has underpinned women’s equal participation in public life; the decision removes a critical right of a woman to control her own body and her life’s trajectory.
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Many clients and others have already taken action in response to today’s ruling. Amazon, Apple, Citigroup, Goldman, Mastercard, Meta and dozens of our other clients have pledged to cover employee travel needed to obtain safe abortions.
As one of our nation’s most preeminent law firms, with a century-long history of fighting to safeguard the rule of law, we have a special responsibility to deploy our resources to protect rights and liberties that are under attack. Throughout our history, our lawyers have shown courage and resolve time and again in the face of adversity. Since 1973, when Roe was decided, our firm has continuously fought to protect a woman’s right to choose against countless attacks.
Over the past 50 years, we have litigated more than 100 reproductive rights cases. In recent years, we have represented the last remaining abortion clinics in Mississippi and Missouri against an onslaught of anti-abortion legislation. We are co-counsel in Dobbs along with the Center for Reproductive Rights, our longtime not-for-profit partner. We have been working around the clock in recent years to protect reproductive rights and abortion access under increasing attack, including in Dobbs. We could not be more proud of our lawyers who have led these critically important representations.
Although our offices are located in states where abortion is likely to remain available, we are recommitting to protect reproductive choice for all. In the coming days, we will be taking action on multiple fronts, in New York and nationally. To that end, as I reported last week, we are spearheading the coalition of law firms and reproductive rights organizations, pursuant to the initiative led by New York Attorney General Letitia James to ensure that access to abortion remains available in New York to all who desire such access, including residents of other states. Our San Francisco office is working with the San Francisco Bar Association and the City Attorney to ensure access to legal abortions in California.
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Most immediately, working with the New York Attorney General, we are leading the effort to establish a reproductive rights hotline to respond to inquiries from New Yorkers and others seeking access to safe and legal abortions in New York. If you are interested in helping with this effort, please contact Steve Banks as soon as possible.
There are many grassroots nonprofit organizations providing grants to those seeking abortion for travel and childcare expenses. If you would like to donate to such an organization, Paul, Weiss will match employee donations up to $1,500 annually via our giving platform, Benevity.
Whatever your views on abortion, many in our community are experiencing strong and tumultuous emotions today. I encourage you to take the time to reflect and to reach out to friends and family for support. We will come together as a community to reflect on the Dobbs decision and its implications. Among other programs, we will be holding an event on July 11th with Columbia University Gender and Equality Professor Katherine Franke, “Taking Action after Dobbs.”
In these unprecedented and painful times, I want to thank all members of our community for all you do each and every day to try to make the world a better and more just place.
Brad
Brad S. Karp | Chairman
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP