Does Kavanaugh Pose a Threat to Abortion Rights?
Democrats are painting Brett Kavanaugh as a threat to Roe v. Wade as they gear up for a fight over his confirmation to the Supreme Court. Are Democrats’ fears overblown or is Kavanaugh really a threat to abortion rights? More at New York Times.
The looming threat to Roe is already galvanizing the political left… an outright reversal of Roe, which would allow the individual states to regulate abortion as their legislatures see fit, augurs blue wave after blue wave to wash away the effect of minority rule. That’s why I don’t expect it to happen. I expect the justices will understand what Susan Collins doesn’t — that Roe v. Wade is very popular and only the political fringe wants a return to the Bad Old Days that preceded it.
…while Kavanaugh’s record on women’s and LGBT rights is sparse, it gives good reason to suspect that he could be the swing vote to strike down Roe v. Wade, the abortion-rights case. This, after all, is what Trump promised in 2016: that Roe would be “automatically” be overturned should he be elected. And Kavanaugh has been praised by numerous right-wing organizations.
Last year, he attempted to block a young undocumented woman in U.S. custody from accessing the safe, legal abortion she wanted — even after she had cleared Texas’ numerous legal hurdles. If Kavanaugh had his way, the government would have delayed the young woman’s abortion by more than a month, pushing her into the second trimester. Fortunately, the full court on which he sits intervened and allowed the young woman to access the health care she needed. If he was willing to use his position of power to block this woman’s most basic human right to make her own personal health decision there can be little doubt that he’ll do the same to women across the country.