WBASNY Opposes U.S. Supreme Court Decision on Women’s Health Law

 

New York attorney Dyan Gershman leads Gershman Law, PLLC, where she provides corporate legal services to clients ranging from large corporations to small businesses. Active in her professional community, Dyan Gershman is a member of the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York (WBASNY), which provides resources and education to 4,000 legal professionals statewide.

In May 2022, WBASNY made a public statement on behalf of the right of women to choose and make their own decisions about reproductive health care. The context was the U.S. Supreme Court’s expected decision to repeal key protections in this area offered by Roe v. Wade. For nearly a half century, this precedent safeguarded women’s access to abortion as a “fundamental constitutional right.”

The dangers posed by the Supreme Court’s then-pending (and since issued) decision in “Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization” is not as acute in New York, as the Reproductive Health Care Act passed in 2019 codifies Roe v. Wade protections into state law. This means that women will continue to have access to safe abortions in New York, even though Roe v. Wade is now overturned. However, discussions are underway on ending women’s right to abortion at the federal level, and that would have a major impact. The WBASNY recommends that New York respond by replacing the present “patchwork of laws” with an Equal Rights Amendment enshrined within the state constitution.