Neil Gorsuch Presents Danger to Reproductive Rights

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 31, 2017
CONTACT: Christie Petrone, [email protected], 718-594-6538 

Statement by National Institute for Reproductive Health President Andrea Miller

“President Trump has promised to appoint Supreme Court judges who will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, and Trump’s actions during the first week of his presidency suggest that he is following through with his anti-choice agenda.

“In one of Trump’s first executive actions, he reinstated and expanded the Global Gag Rule, prohibiting foreign organizations that receive U.S. family planning funds from providing counseling or referrals for abortion. He has emboldened Congress to take steps toward repealing the Affordable Care Act (including affordable access to contraception) and to pass legislation that would make permanent the Hyde Amendment, which bans insurance coverage of abortion for low-income women, federal employees, and a host of others covered through federal insurance plans. 

“Trump has made clear that he intends to nominate only justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade, despite the fact that this constitutional right is supported by the majority of American voters. Given Trump’s record to date, and what we already know about Gorsuch’s court rulings and other writings, we must conclude that he is an extension of the Trump administration’s attacks on women’s rights, health, and dignity. Gorsuch’s prior ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby in its effort to deny its employees coverage for contraception, and his decision to side with Utah Gov. Gary Herbert’s effort to defund Planned Parenthood, and his writings on the subject all suggest he would not support Roe v. Wade.

“The National Institute for Reproductive Health urges the Senate to reject Gorsuch and any extremist judge who would prioritize his or her personal views on abortion over the precedent that was set in Roe v. Wade and that has been affirmed by the Supreme Court many times over the past 40 years, protecting women’s right to choose abortion.”  

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The National Institute for Reproductive Health works across the country to increase access to reproductive health care by changing public policy, galvanizing public support, and normalizing women’s decisions to have abortions and use contraception.