Cite threat to Roe V. Wade and a woman’s right to choose
(PHOTO CAPTION: L-R: Rebecca Hart Holder, Executive Director, NARAL Massachusetts; Dr. Jennifer Childs-Roshak, President and CEO, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts; Senator Markey; and Wendy Robinson)
Boston (July 16, 2018) – Standing alongside women’s health providers and reproductive rights advocates, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) blasted the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, citing his judicial record and the threat of overturning Roe V. Wade. During the 2016 election, then-candidate Donald Trump promised to nominate “pro-life” judges to the Supreme Court who would overturn Roe v. Wade. During a press conference today in Boston at Planned Parenthood offices, Senator Markey and the speakers noted that Judge Kavanaugh’s record on the D.C. Circuit inspires no confidence that he will protect a woman’s fundamental right to choose. Judge Kavanaugh has supported employers restricting access to contraception, and he recently ruled forced a young woman in Texas to delay safely and legally terminating her pregnancy, despite her taking all the steps required by Texas state law.
“Being a woman, especially a pregnant woman, is not a pre-existing condition, and in key court cases Judge Kavanaugh stood in the way of individuals making their own reproductive health choices,” said Senator Markey. “Confirming Judge Kavanaugh is an invitation for anti-choice advocates to intensify their crusade against access to reproductive health choices, taking them closer to achieving their ultimate dream of overturning Roe V. Wade and turning back the clock on women’s health freedom and economic security. I am going to fight Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination every step of the way. This is a fight for health, for equality, and for dignity.”
“The Supreme Court will decide whether our government trusts women to make their own decisions about their bodies, and in turn determine the course of countless women’s lives,” said Dr. Jennifer Childs-Roshak, president and CEO, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. “Judge Kavanaugh cannot be trusted to uphold the precedent of Roe v. Wade – that the Constitution affords every person the individual liberty to make decisions about their own body and their own future, including the right to access contraception and abortion. Our patients and all women in this country deserve better than Judge Kavanaugh.”
“Judge Kavanaugh was chosen because he lived up to Trump’s litmus test and will be a vote to end Roe v. Wade, criminalize abortion, and punish women,” said Rebecca Hart Holder, Executive Director, NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts. “This fight goes beyond Roe. This is a battle for the very heart and soul of our country and the result is about nothing less than whether women will be second class citizens for generations to come. And, this fight goes beyond abortion, it goes to the ability of every single family to have control over the personal decisions that allow them to lead free lives.”
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