Tim Tai, Staff Photographer and Zoe Berg, Photo Editor

The Supreme Court’s late June ruling that struck down Roe v. Wade ignited campus-wide conversations surrounding reproductive rights among Yale Law School students and professors.

In June, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 in Dobbs v. Jackson to overturn the 1973 case Roe v. Wade, which protects a woman’s right to have an abortion. Since then, the Law School community has responded to the decision by significantly amping up student events and clinics. 

“It is a complex time to be studying the law given the constantly changing landscape,” Nargis Aslami LAW ’24 said. “Thankfully, there have been multiple avenues for programming and community at the Law School for those of us wanting to work on reproductive rights.”

While there have been no large-scale demonstrations on the decision — which took place while the Law School was out of session — the community has held educational events channeling various perspectives on the ruling.

Following the official Supreme Court decision, at least three other student organizations sent follow-up emails to the Law School student body. These organizations included the Black Law Students Association, OutLaws and Trans@YLS. 

The OutLaws and Trans@YLS email pointed out that the Supreme Court decision was written by a Yale Law School-educated justice — Justice Samuel Alito LAW ’75 — and was affirmed by other justices who graduated from Yale Law. The organizations called it “as clear a sign as any that our degree gives us power.”

“We call on our peers to hold each other accountable and use their degrees to fearlessly protect our most essential freedoms,” BLSA wrote in their email. “The privilege of a Yale Law School degree also entails a duty to protect the human rights of all people and not allow our legal institutions to compromise the status of any person as a free and equal citizen.”

Upon students’ return to school in August, the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization, hosted an event on Dobbs. The debate-style discussion between two Law School professors delved into the implications and impact of the decision.

According to Federalist Society President Robert Capodilupo LAW ’23, 71 students and faculty members attended the discussion.

“It was great to see so many people engaging with both speakers and participating in a good-faith discussion about the case,” Capodilupo said.

Student advocacy efforts to support reproductive justice also ramped up after the official Dobbs decision, with several new reproductive justice-centered student groups beginning this fall.

A new student reading group at the Law School, Lawyering for Reproductive Justice: Beyond a Rights-Based Framework, was created following Dobbs to pair readings on reproductive justice with political action. 

If/When/How is another new reproductive justice group on campus. Although it was founded late last spring, before the official Dobbs decision, it will begin its work officially this fall. 

Law School centers have also collaborated recently to create discussion around the Dobbs decision.

On Sept. 7, the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at the Law School hosted a fall kickoff panel on the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe. The event was open to all Law School students and encompassed a discussion between policymakers, litigators and community organizers on the intersection of race, class and reproduction. 

Clinics at the Law School also remain a popular way that student advocates for reproductive justice can take action. 

This year the Reproductive Rights and Justice Project, a clinic allowing students to represent reproductive health care providers and patients on national levels, has higher participation rates than usual as a result of Dobbs, Director Priscilla Smith YC ’84 LAW ’91 said. The clinic’s syllabus has also changed to include the Dobbs opinion as well as the fallout, and to discuss the status of various state laws and litigation in progress.  

For reproductive justice advocates like Cat Gassiot LAW ’24, learning from all the voices within the reproductive justice movement is the first step in figuring out the path forward.

Members of the Law School community spoke passionately about the future of law following the Dobbs decision.

“I hope recent events pique the curiosity of all students as to the role the Supreme Court plays, its sources of authority, and whether it furthers the ends of democracy and the values we believe adhere to the constitution,” Global Justice and Women’s Rights Program Director Mindy Roseman said. “I hope that students learn to engage with all dimensions of what make up constitutional arguments for our basis of law. It is a great time to be a law student.”

The Yale Law School is located on 127 Wall St.

Correction, Sep. 12: A previous version of this article misquoted Gassiot, and has since been fixed. The News regrets the error.