Memo
NARAL Pro-Choice America Condemns Senator Thom Tillis for Voting to Confirm Amy Barrett to the Supreme Court Mere Days Before Election
For Immediate Release: October 22, 2020
Contact: [email protected]
Washington, DC—Today, as nearly 2.5 million North Carolinians have already cast their ballots, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) joined the other 11 Republican Senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee to jam through the nomination of Amy Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. Today’s vote advances Barrett’s nomination to a cloture vote before heading to the U.S. Senate floor.
The illegitimate confirmation hearings took place as tens of millions of Americans cast their ballots for the next president. Throughout this sham process, the Republican Party has subverted the will of the American people at every turn, blatantly ignoring the majority of people in the United States who want the Senate to prioritize COVID-19 relief and let the people decide who should fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court.
Following today’s vote, NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue released the following statement:
“Today, Senator Tillis turned his back on democracy and sold out the women and families of North Carolina. Sen. Tillis’ effort to jam through a Supreme Court nomination less than two weeks before Election Day—and as over 40 million Americans have already cast their ballots—is unprecedented, shameful, and speaks to the depths of his contempt for our fundamental freedoms. North Carolina voters will not forget how Tillis rubber-stamped Trump and McConnell’s craven power grab and will hold him to account at the ballot box. The stakes are higher than ever before and Sen. Tillis has proven time and again that he cannot be trusted to stand up for North Carolinians’ values or safeguard their rights.”
NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina Executive Director Tara Romano said:
“The majority of people in North Carolina support access to abortion, contraception, and affordable healthcare that doesn’t exclude people with pre-existing conditions. Senator Tillis has voted multiple times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, defund reproductive health clinics, and restrict access to abortion. Anti-choice politicians have not been able to push their agenda legislatively and are instead attempting to hijack the U.S. Supreme Court right before an election to push an unpopular agenda.”
Amy Barrett’s record on reproductive freedom is clear. She has suggested that Roe v. Wade is an “erroneous decision.” She also signed onto an ad calling the landmark ruling “barbaric” and failed to disclose it in the documents submitted to the Senate ahead of her confirmation hearings. She sided with states trying to restrict abortion access, joined anti-choice groups in opposing the Affordable Care Act’s birth control benefit, and is connected to a group that calls for criminalizing in vitro fertilization. She refused to answer whether states could make accessing abortion care a felony if Roe v. Wade is overturned or punish people seeking abortion care with the death penalty. She also refused to answer whether states could prosecute people for using contraception if Roe is overturned. Her nomination comes after Trump’s promise to the Radical Right to only consider jurists hostile to reproductive freedom. It’s a vow he ran on in 2016 and doubled down on in a recent campaign letter to the anti-choice movement.
Senator Thom Tillis has worked to undermine reproductive freedom at every turn. Not only did Sen. Tillis vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, he also joined more than 200 other politicians calling on the court to end Roe v. Wade and with it, the legal right to access abortion.
A new Public Policy Polling survey finds that a strong majority (74%) of North Carolina voters believe that abortion should be legal, and that the government should not prevent a woman from making that decision for herself. Just 11% of say they would only consider voting for a candidate who supports banning abortion in the November election.
NARAL Pro-Choice America is in the midst of its largest-ever electoral program. It is designed to reach, persuade, and mobilize key voters, including driving thousands of calls to voters in North Carolina who are motivated by Senator Tillis’ betrayal of their values and Trump and Republicans’ unyielding attacks on reproductive freedom. Come November, NARAL and its 2.5 million members are ready to flip the Senate and hold senators like Thom Tillis accountable for putting their fundamental freedoms in jeopardy.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates and chapters have fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom—including access to abortion, contraception, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its more than 2.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 7 in 10 Americans who believe every person should have the freedom to make the best decision for themselves about if, when, and how to raise a family.