NARAL Statement on Confirmation of Anti-Choice Judicial Nominee Amy Coney Barrett

“Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation advances Mitch McConnell’s, and the anti-choice GOP’s, desire to  reshape the courts in Donald Trump’s image for decades to come. Barrett’s record speaks for itself: She is aligned with extreme, anti-choice organizations, and her writings make clear that she believes Roe v. Wade was incorrectly decided. With a lifetime appointment, Barrett can impose her extreme anti-choice ideology onto women and families for much longer than Donald Trump will occupy the White House. Barrett’s confirmation proves that the anti-choice GOP is more concerned with advancing its out-of-touch agenda than upholding our basic human rights, and this confirmation should concern anyone who believes in a truly independent judiciary.

“Reshaping the courts in the image of an administration under the cloud of federal investigation is wrong, and the Senate should halt all Trump judicial nominees until the Department of Justice investigation is complete. The American people deserve a judiciary held to the highest standard and that upholds values of justice and equality for all, instead of the few they deem worthy of constitutional protections. In the meantime, we cannot stop fighting these terrifying nominees, and we must not let Trump stack the courts against women, families, and all Americans.”

Amy Coney Barrett’s long, anti-choice record should concern all Americans:

• Barrett has gone so far as to join forces with anti-choice and far-right leaders, including Susan B. Anthony List, March for Life, Family Research Council, Priests for Life, and Heartbeat International, in a letter that recognizes “life from conception.”
• Her writings indicate that she believes Roe was incorrectly decided, which should deeply concern the 7 in 10 Americans who support Roe v. Wade.
• During her nomination hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Barrett refused to claim it was a mistake to accept a speaking engagement sponsored by a radical anti-choice group that believes in the sterilization of trans people.
• Barrett joined other anti-choice individuals and spoke out against the ACA’s contraceptive-coverage policy, the single greatest advancement in reproductive healthcare in a generation.
• She has written favorably about how elected officials can show their disagreement with or even undermine court decisions that are pro-choice. In making this case, she pointed to how Congress passed an anti-choice abortion restriction to undermine the Supreme Court’s decision in Stenberg v. Carhart, which overturned a Nebraska law restricting a woman’s right to a late-term abortion.1

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1. Amy Coney Barrett, Symposium: Stare Decisis and Nonjudicial Actors, Notre Dame Law Review 1147, 2008.