Statement on Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh

SEATTLE — Statement from Jennifer Allen, CEO of Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawaii:

“We oppose the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, and call on the Senate to do the same. This nomination puts Roe v. Wade in jeopardy. The president has already established that he’ll only appoint nominees who would “automatically” overturn Roe v. Wade. We take Trump at his word that Brett Kavanaugh would overturn Roe v. Wade and get rid of the Affordable Care Act. The balance of the Supreme Court is at stake — we cannot allow it to be tilted against the constitutional right to access abortion. Generations of women, especially women of color, will be affected. And generations of people have grown up only knowing a country where they have the right to access safe, legal abortion. We cannot allow our children and grandchildren to have fewer rights than we do today.”

Judge Kavanaugh has already ruled to limit access to safe, legal abortion — just last year, he used his judicial power to try and prevent a young, undocumented woman in U.S. custody from accessing the safe, legal abortion she requested. He has also ruled against women’s access to birth control. Judge Kavanaugh authored the dissenting opinion in the D.C. Circuit’s 2015 ruling on the Affordable Care Act’s birth control benefit, writing that he believed employers have the right to deny their employees health insurance coverage for birth control.

PPVNH calls on each one of our U.S. Senators to uphold this standard: if you oppose Roe v. Wade and women’s access to basic health care, you are not qualified to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States.”

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