The pushback against President Trump's latest Supreme Court nominee has reached peak outrage, specifically in the pro-abortion movement. Liberal lawmakers and activists are under the impression that Kavanaugh's presence on the bench will mean the end of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion. That was House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's impression. She said Kavanaugh could "put everything at risk" and a vote for him is a vote to "destroy" Roe v. Wade.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) was the latest Democrat to suggest this in a recent interview with Glamour magazine.
Gillibrand, who’s generated buzz as a possible 2020 White House contender, suggests Kavanaugh's nomination is a matter of life or death for women's rights—and possibly women themselves. She's convinced that, if Kavanaugh replaces retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, he'll work to undermine the protections of Roe v. Wade—potentially sending the clock spinning back to a time when American women secretly sought dangerous, illegal abortions.
The editors quoted author Barbara Ehrenreich's concern for women, which Gillibrand promptly agreed with.
I’ve heard enough about Kavanaugh. It’s time to revive the spirit of Jane, the Chicago women’s collective that performed safe, though illegal, abortions from 1969 to 1973. As vital services are taken away, we have to learn how to replace them.
— Barbara Ehrenreich (@B_Ehrenreich) July 11, 2018
"I think she's right. I think [Kavanaugh] intends to overturn Roe v. Wade, or limit it. I think he intends to make it a states’ rights issue, which if he does, then Southern states and various states in the country will deny women access to abortion services, may deny their access to birth control and reproductive freedom. I mean, it's literally about whether a woman has civil rights in this country, basic civil rights to control her body and her reproductive rights…. [If] you're going to force women to take babies to term even in the circumstances of rape, incest, or medical emergency, you are saying they have no right to the basic civil right of 'life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness'…. The fear is [if abortion is not accessible], then they will be left to their own actions. And it's not safe for women. Their lives will be at risk…. I hope that the women of America listen to what he said and how he's ruled in the past, and understand that if he is successfully sworn in as the next Supreme Court justice, that the likelihood of women's reproductive freedom being preserved is low. It is a huge risk that those basic rights and privileges will be denied for American women—particularly American poor women."
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His appeal to women is a facade, she later added. "His voting record does not show that he values women," she said.
Hillary Clinton expressed much of the same outrage against Kavanaugh. He'll take women back to the 1850s, she warned. He's not just a threat to women's rights though. He also holds "devastating consequences" for workers' rights, civil rights, and LGBT rights.
Other Democrats were out in front of the Supreme Court just hours after Trump's announcement, insisting they'll fight the nomination with "everything they've got." That was before they even met the guy. Kavanaugh has plenty of experience to fill retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy's shoes. As Guy notes, Kavanaugh "has spent a dozen years as a highly respected jurist on the nation's most influential circuit court of appeals."
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