Native American Communities Amicus Brief in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health
Brief filed at the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Center's challenge to Mississippi's pre-viability abortion ban.
Amici are Cecilia Fire Thunder, National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, Native American Community Board, and over 30 other organizations and over 225 individuals committed to ensuring that Native people in the United States and Territories have access to comprehensive reproductive health services.
The brief argues that upholding the Mississippi ban would open another dark chapter of depriving Native people the right and dignity to decide if, when, and how to have a family.
The federal government has historically failed to fulfill its trust obligation to provide meaningful reproductive health care to Native people, including, among other policies, through an effective ban on abortion due to the Hyde Amendment.
Amici argue that preventing, instead of providing, access to meaningful reproductive health care and abortion is a human rights violation and a violation of the government’s trust responsibility.
Lael Echo-Hawk is pro bono counsel.
This brief was one of over 50 amicus briefs filed supporting this Supreme Court case, which challenges Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban. For more information on the case, go to Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.