Bay Area attorney among those who wrote amicus briefs in abortion case

SAN FRANCISCO - Bay Area attorney Anjali Srinivasan, who wrote an amicus brief in the Mississippi abortion case being reviewed by the Supreme Court, says she's disappointed that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's draft opinion seemed to ignore the amicus brief she filed on behalf of more than 150 economists. 

She says the brief presented research data on the economic impact abortion access has had on women since the landmark 1973 Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion.

"The goal was really to bring to bear this body of research that talks about the impact that abortion rights has had on society, and to kind of debunk this idea that either we don't know the impact of abortion or abortion has not really had a meaningful impact in the way that people go about their lives," said Srinivasan, who is a partner at Keker, Van Nest, & Peters law firm.

The Mississippi case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization which is now before the Supreme Court, involves a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks into a pregnancy.

Srinivasan says she hopes all the Supreme Court justices consider the data which the economists presented, looking at the many ways women have been impacted economically by legal abortion access.

"The ability for a woman to delay an unplanned pregnancy by just one year can have just kind of astronomical impact on their later wages. It also impacts women's educational attainment, high school graduation, college attendance. There's just a lot of data out there actually, that measures these effects that I think it's important for the court and people to know about," said Srinivasan. 

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization - click HERE.

Amicus brief,  Srinivasan - click HERE.