Neil Gorsuch, a far-right jurist
Statement of Vicki Saporta, President and CEO of the National Abortion Federation (NAF), on the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to be an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court:
We need a Supreme Court justice who will honor established precedent, including the constitutional right to privacy and Roe v. Wade. That Justice is not Neil Gorsuch.
Judge Gorsuch has been described as “a predictably socially conservative judge who tends to favor state power over federal power[i],” and a member of a group of judicial appointees “as good a College of Judicial Cardinals as the conservative and pro-life movements have ever seen[ii].” He is a far-right jurist who would overturn basic and well-established principles of American law.
President Trump promised to put forth a nominee who would oppose Roe v. Wade. We should take him at his word. With an Administration that wants to overturn Roe and abortion opponents in control of the House and Senate, the stakes are extremely high for women’s health and safety. Americans overwhelmingly believe that Roe should be upheld and will not tolerate retreating to the days when women had to sacrifice their lives and health to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. We urge Senators to carefully scrutinize the record of Neil Gorsuch, and vote against this nominee, who could jeopardize the lives and health of American women.
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CONTACT:
Alissa Manzoeillo, National Abortion Federation
202.667.5881, ext 219; 202.595.4395 (after hours/cell)
amanzoeillo@prochoice.org
The National Abortion Federation (NAF) is the professional association of abortion providers. Our members include individuals, private and non-profit clinics, Planned Parenthood affiliates, women’s health centers, physicians’ offices, and hospitals who together care for approximately half the women who choose abortion in the U.S. and Canada each year. Our members also include public hospitals and both public and private clinics in Mexico City and private clinics in Colombia. Our mission is to ensure safe, legal, and accessible abortion care, which promotes health and justice for women.
[i] Justin Marceau, a professor at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law who has litigated civil rights and death penalty cases
[ii] In 2012, Michael Fragoso, a longtime anti-abortion advocate and current counsel to Arizona senator Jeff Flake, said this about Gorsuch and other young Bush-era judicial appointees