On Tuesday, leaders of the House Pro-Choice Caucus and dozens of Democratic congressmen sent a letter to U.S. senators, demanding that they oppose the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh because his record “does not support a woman’s constitutional right to choice,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by National Review.
Ninety-five Democratic representatives signed the letter, a three-page missive insisting that “the stakes could not be higher” in this confirmation process. They express particularly intense consternation over the possibility that Kavanaugh might erase judicial protections for abortion if seated on the Supreme Court.
“We firmly believe that Judge Kavanaugh will turn the balance of the Supreme Court agains women’s constitutional rights, including abortion,” the letter says, before praising retired justice Anthony Kennedy for his role in Planned Parenthood v. Casey and Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, both of which protected abortion rights and limited state protections for unborn human life. In both cases, Kennedy was the swing vote and author of the majority decision.
The letter points to Kavanaugh’s vote on a three-judge panel in Garza v. Hargan, a case involving a pregnant, illegal-immigrant minor who sought an abortion while in federal custody. “This is a clear example of how Judge Kavanaugh has ruled in favor of government overreach to deny a person’s access to safe, legal abortions,” the signatories write.
They also note Kavanaugh’s dissent in Priests for Life v. HHS, arguing that his “ruling would have left women without the birth control coverage they need” and that he “poses a great threat to an individual’s right to basic health care.”
The recent sexual-assault allegations against Kavanaugh, meanwhile, are restricted only to brief mentions at the beginning and end of the letter, which concludes: “It is clear that a vote for Judge Kavanaugh is a vote against women’s autonomy and reproductive health.”
Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation against Kavanaugh deserved to be taken seriously, and if he committed the assault she describes, it would be disqualifying. This letter from the Pro-Choice Caucus and House Democrats, however, reveals that Ford’s story — along with other salacious, unverified allegations and ridiculous hit pieces against Kavanaugh served up by a sympathetic media — is being wielded as a weapon by those desperate to protect unlimited abortion on demand.
If the melodramatic language alone wasn’t enough of an indication, the praise for Kennedy in this letter gives away the game. For these representatives, the primary fear isn’t that Kavanaugh might have sexually assaulted someone. Their horror stems from the possibility that he would be the decisive swing vote on the Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, or at the very least to walk back some of the judicial carve-outs that currently permit abortion for any reason, in every state, up until the last day of pregnancy.