BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Emails and phone calls from same-sex couples worried about the legal status of their marriages and the custody of their children flooded attorney Sidney Duncan’s office within hours of the Supreme Court’s decision striking down the constitutional right to abortion.
Last week’s ruling did not directly affect the 2015 decision that cleared the way for same-sex marriage. But, Duncan said, it’s still a warning shot for families headed by same-sex parents who fear their rights could evaporate like those of people who want to terminate a pregnancy.
“It scares a lot of people, and I think rightly so,” said Duncan, who specializes in representing members of the LGBTQ community at the Magic City Law Center in Birmingham.
Overturning nearly 50 years of precedent, the Supreme Court ruled in a case in Mississippi that abortion is not protected by the Constitution, a decision that is likely to lead to bans in about half the states. Justice Samuel Alito said the ruling involved only a medical procedure, writing, “Nothing in this opinion should be construed to cast doubt on precedents that do not apply to abortion.”
But conservative Justice Clarence Thomas urged his colleagues to reconsider cases allowing same-sex marriage, gay sex and contraception.
The court’s three most liberal members warned in their dissent that the ruling could be used to challenge other personal liberties: “Either the majority’s mass opinion is hypocritical, or additional constitutional rights are at stake. It’s one or the other.”
That prospect worries some LGBTQ couples, who worry about a return to a time when they didn’t have equal rights with married heterosexual couples under the law. Many, fearing that their marital status is in jeopardy, attempt to resolve potential medical, parenting, and property issues.
Dawn Betts-Green and wife Anna Green wasted no time backing up their legal filings following the ruling. They have already visited a legal clinic for same-sex families to begin the process of making a will.
“That way, if they take us back to the Dark Ages, we have legal protection for our relationship,” said Betts-Green, who works with an Alabama-based nonprofit that documents the history of LGBTQ people in the South.
As a white woman married to a black transgender man, Robyn Reed of Minneapolis feels particularly vulnerable. A ruling undermining same-sex marriage or interracial unions would turn Reid’s life upside down, which includes the couple’s 3-month-old child.
“I don’t have any expectations that anything in my marriage is safe,” said Reed, a paralegal.
Reid’s employer, Sara Breiner of the Breiner Law Firm, has organized workshops in both the Twin Cities and the Atlanta area to help same-sex couples navigate the potential legal needs following the court’s decision. Breiner said helping people stay calm about the future is part of her job these days.
“We don’t know what might happen, and that’s the problem,” Breiner said.
In a sign of what could happen, the state of Alabama has already invoked the abortion ruling, asking a federal appeals court to allow it to enforce a new state law that makes it a felony for doctors to prescribe puberty blockers and trans hormones people under the age of 19. The ruling, which gives states the power to restrict abortions, means states should also be able to ban medical treatment for transgender youth, the state argued.
Any attempt to overturn same-sex marriage would start with a lawsuit, and any potential reversal is years away, with no serious legal threat looming on the horizon, said Kathryn Oakley, senior counsel and state legislative director for the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign. an LGBTQ advocacy organization.
“It’s definitely a scary time and people are nervous, but people’s marriages are still safe,” Oakley said.
While the threat to same-sex couples feels particularly acute in conservative states, Oakley said she has heard of people across the country in recent days seeking second-parent adoptions, which protect the family by having both adoptive parents’ names on the birth certificate. People also fill out medical directives in case one spouse is incapacitated and do general estate planning, she said.
The Law Office of Ryanne Seyba in Hollywood, Florida offers free stepparent adoptions, which are similar to stepparent adoptions, for qualified same-sex couples to alleviate some of the stress caused by the possible ripple effects of an abortion decision.
“We realized last week when (the ruling) came out that we had to do something,” said Ceiba of The Upgrade Lawyers.
A Broward County judge plans to have a special day in August to finalize all the adoptions at once, Ceiba said. If nothing else, the completion of the process should give nervous families more certainty, she said.
“If gay marriage goes away, we really don’t know what will happen,” she said. “We better be in a safe place.”
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Associated Press writer Kim Chandler in Montgomery contributed to this report.
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