A Statement on the SCOTUS Opinion regarding Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

To: The Students of Vassar College
From: The Vassar Student Association

We, the Vassar Student Association, are disheartened and outraged by the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn the longstanding constitutional right to an abortion established by Roe v Wade. As a governing body committed to combating systems of oppression and dedicated to serving, representing, promoting the interests of and improving the welfare of the undergraduate students of Vassar College,¹ we wholeheartedly condemn this dangerous attack on the rights of women, transgender, gender nonconforming, non-binary, and intersex people.

We recognize that abortion bans disproportionately impact historically marginalized people and exacerbate the racialized health inequalities we must so urgently work to overcome. They elevate poverty and establish barriers to educational and career fulfillment for those who may become pregnant.² And, research conclusively indicates that the overturn of Roe v. Wade will lead to increases in pregnancy-related deaths³ and harmful health, economic, social, and psychological effects.⁴

As the elected representatives of the Vassar student community we share President Bradley’s concern for how this will affect our fellow students and limit the choices of our peers. We are further troubled by Justice Thomas’ concurring opinion, which calls into question the legitimacy of numerous prior rulings made on the basis of an assumed constitutional right to privacy,⁵ including those which established the fundamental rights of millions of people of color and LGBTQ+ people.^6,7,8,9 The Vassar Student Association remains committed to an intersectional anti-racist, feminist, and queer liberation and stand wholeheartedly in the defense of our peers.

As we have worked this summer to reinvigorate the Seven Sisters Conference, which has historically fostered connections and collaborations between the student governments of Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Vassar, and Wellesley, we pledge to use this space to work towards the powerful cross-campus student movement we need to combat these attacks on bodily autonomy. Furthermore, as we develop our Priorities and Initiatives Proposal for this coming school year, we intend to investigate practical goals aimed at protecting and expanding reproductive healthcare, on and off campus. 

While we are but one student government, we will use all available levers to defend our peers’ rights to their own bodies, lives, and futures.

On behalf of the Vassar Student Association, we adopt this official stance and issue this statement to the Vassar student community.

Statement 154.SI22.006.001

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