When advocates for women’s reproductive health dressed in costumes from The Handmaid’s Tale to protest the confirmation hearings for alleged attempted rapist Brett Kavanaugh, Sen. Susan Collins (D-ME) assured them that, as a SCOTUS judge, Kavanaugh would not vote to restrict abortion rights. During the very first crucial vote on abortion rights of Kavanaugh’s tenure, he voted to restrict abortion rights.
Ilyse Hogue of NARAL Pro-Choice America tweeted:
‘Susan Collins gaslighted millions of Americans claiming we were hysterical in believing that Justice Kavanaugh would vote to overturn precedent … His decision in the Louisiana case proves us correct,’
Trump Justices — Kavanaugh and Gorsuch –dissented in this case that would have ended legal abortion in Louisiana. We were called hysterical for expressing concern they would rule against #RoeVWade and our fundamental freedom but here we have it. Everyone who fought, I see you. https://t.co/nrwx2yUseE
— ilyse hogue (@ilyseh) February 8, 2019
According to POLITICO, Kavanaugh had already shown how he would vote as a Supreme Court justice. During a lecture on Justice Rehnquist, he said:
‘If you want the Constitution to guarantee a right of privacy, pass an amendment. If you want a state to repeal a stupid, intrusive law, pass a bill. And if, say, the political power of the Catholic Church in Connecticut makes it impossible to repeal a ban on birth control, so be it.’
Hogue told me, “Susan Collins gaslighted millions of Americans claiming we were hysterical in believing that Justice Kavanaugh would vote to overturn precedent … His decision in the Louisiana case proves us correct.” https://t.co/iu1saBgs1t
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) February 8, 2019
The vote centered on a bill from Louisiana that would restrict reproductive health access for women in the state so strongly that only one physician would be left in the state who could perform the procedure. In a 5-4 decision, the bill was ruled unconstitutional, but Kavanaugh was one of the four who supported the ban.
NBC News reported that:
‘It was the Supreme Court’s first significant action on the hot-button issue of abortion since Donald Trump’s nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, replaced Anthony Kennedy, who generally voted with the court’s liberals to uphold abortion rights.
‘In Thursday’s ruling, Kavanaugh voted with the conservatives — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch.’
Nice job SuCo. Hope you're proud of yourself. #susancollins @SenatorCollins #ImWithHer #metoo #IBelieveHer
— Peter (@PeterMoskowitz2) February 8, 2019
After the SCOTUS ruling, voters were not surprised by Kavanaugh, nor will they have the opportunity to vote him out of his lifetime-appointed seat on the Supreme Court.
They will get a chance to vote out Susan Collins, though.
@SenatorCollins swore up and down that #Kavanaugh would not try to overturn Roe v. Wade.
One day after the first abortion decision of Kavanaugh’s tenure, how’s that take working out? pic.twitter.com/DOHtMcX5DB
— Rewire.News (@Rewire_News) February 9, 2019
Featured image via Flickr by Gage Skidmore under a Creative Commons license
