Washington, DC — On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court voted in Dobbs v. Jackson to reverse decades of legal precedent protecting access to abortion. Previously, Muslim Advocates joined an amicus brief and drafted an open letter to American Muslims, which warned that overturning Roe v. Wade represents not only the enshrinement of Christian nationalist beliefs into federal law but could also lead to the erosion of other bedrock civil rights.

The following is a statement from Muslim Advocates Interim Co-Executive Directors Farah Brelvi and Asifa Quraishi-Landes:

“The Supreme Court’s radical decision to overturn Roe v. Wade represents a dangerous Christian nationalization of American law and kicks open the door to future reversals of the right to contraception, the right to marry whomever you want and even the right to teach your children a language of your choice.

By upholding a law that defines life as beginning at conception, the U.S. Supreme Court has enshrined the religious doctrine of one minority religious community into law—violating the First Amendment principle of religious freedom. Moreover, by ruling that the court will recognize a fundamental constitutional right only if it is ‘deeply rooted in history,’ Justice Alito’s decision threatens to send us back to a time when it was commonplace for rich, white, Christian men to hold the full panoply of essential rights (such as bodily integrity, fair wages and voting rights) while they enslaved, oppressed and conquered others.

This dangerous decision must concern all Americans, and it is especially dangerous to those belonging to minority religions like Islam. How far down this path the court will go is not certain, but the rise of anti-Muslim government acts like the Muslim Ban and state adoption of anti-sharia legislation has shown that Muslims are especially targeted by those moved by paranoia and misrepresentation. When that paranoia is combined with state power, the results can be devastating to the civil and human rights of all Muslims in this country.

Justice Alito’s ominous decision is filled with so many alarming red flags but the biggest red flag may be that a majority of Justices apparently don’t find this alarming at all. The Supreme Court has now made the radical decision to send our nation backsliding half a century or more. And in doing so, it has potentially irreparably damaged its credibility. We, along with all Americans, must band together and use every single tool available to us to protect ourselves and our remaining constitutional rights.”

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Muslim Advocates is a national civil rights organization working in the courts, in the halls of power and in communities to halt bigotry in its tracks. We ensure that American Muslims have a seat at the table with expert representation so that all Americans may live free from hate and discrimination.