13 Abortion Cases Brett Kavanaugh Could Rule On Right Away
By Planned Parenthood Action Fund | Sept. 6, 2018, 2:52 p.m.
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Access to abortion and health care is already at risk. Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, would tip the court’s balance further away from our constitutional rights.
The right to access abortion and basic health care in this country is already at risk. If confirmed, Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh would push us over the line — and limit our reproductive rights for generations to come.
This is no hyperbole: Currently 13 abortion cases are just one step away from the Supreme Court. We can expect a Supreme Court ruling on abortion as early as next summer — and Kavanaugh could be one of the decision makers. With Kavanaugh on the bench, we’d be looking toward a dangerous post-Roe v. Wade world.
Just look at the math: There are four likely votes on the Court to erode abortion access (Alito, Gorsuch, Roberts, and Thomas), and four to support the constitutional right to abortion (Breyer, Ginsburg, Kagan, and Sotomayor). Kavanaugh’s anti-abortion record is clear. If he’s confirmed, he’d swing the balance of the court against women’s constitutional right to access safe and legal abortion.
Every single one of these 13 cases provides an opportunity for the Supreme Court to OVERULE or severely WEAKEN a woman’s constitutional right to access abortion.
These cases affect our most fundamental rights and individual liberties, from access to birth control, to abortion, to freedoms for LGBTQ people. They include:
- A Kentucky law that would effectively ban abortion. The dangerous law would shut down the only health center in the state that provides safe, legal abortion. As a result, Kansans would be forced to travel out-of-state to access an abortion — if they could access abortion at all.
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An Arkansas law would ban medication abortion entirely — and leave only one abortion health center in the state that provides safe, legal abortion. Women in areas like Fayetteville would be forced to travel out-of-state or make upwards of a 380-mile round trip journey to access an abortion.
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Missouri laws that impose medically unnecessary requirements in order to access abortion.
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A new, deeply unethical policy by the Trump-Pence administration’s Office of Refugee Resettlement that seeks to prevent young, undocumented women in government custody from accessing safe, legal abortion.
If that's not chilling enough, the Supreme Court has another 11 upcoming cases that could determine our reproductive rights and access to health care.
Three cases alone will determine whether the Trump-Pence administration can roll back access to birth control by allowing bosses to refuse to provide birth control coverage. Other cases will decide if the Trump-Pence administration can impose a dangerous “gag rule” to undermine Title X — the nation’s only program for affordable birth control — and dismantle the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program. Other cases will determine if politicians can block access to birth control, cancer screenings, and other care at Planned Parenthood provided through Medicaid.
Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation would be an invitation for hostile states to pursue additional abortion bans and restrictions.
At least 20 states are poised to immediately ban abortion is Roe v. Wade were to be overturned. Already, 308 new abortion restrictions were introduced in 37 states in the first quarter of 2018.
We can’t afford to let Kavanaugh get a seat on the Supreme Court. His record says it all: he’d vote to gut Roe v. Wade, eliminate protections for people living with pre-existing conditions, and erode birth control access for millions of women in this country.
Unless our senators vote to reject Kavanaugh’s nomination, our abilities to control our bodies and our lives will be at greater risk. Time is running out, and we need to act now to protect our rights.
Tags: Roe v. Wade, Brett Kavanaugh
