After the announcement that President Trump will nominate Judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court, NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina Executive Director Tara Romano issued the following statement:

“After near constant promises that he would only appoint Supreme Court nominees that would overturn and gut Roe v. Wade and criminalize abortion, President Trump has held true to that promise with the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh recently argued that a young woman, despite meeting all of Texas’ burdensome requirements to obtain an abortion, should not be able to do so. He has also been a long-time conservative activist working to elect anti-choice politicians.

We have to assume that Kavanaugh was chosen because he lives up to Trump’s litmus test and will be a vote to end Roe v. Wade, criminalize abortion and punish women. If this is not the case, it is up to Judge Kavanaugh to prove to the American people that he will not be a rubber stamp for the President’s agenda and will proactively protect abortion access. Now is the time for Senators Burr and Tillis to stand up for the personal liberty of all to make the reproductive health decisions that are right for them. It’s also time for our Senators to accurately represent the more than 7 in 10 North Carolinians who support safe and legal abortion access”.

President Trump himself has promised over and over again to appoint Supreme Court justices who will work to overturn Roe v. Wade, criminalizing patients and medical professionals in the process. During the first year with another Trump Supreme Court pick – Neil Gorsuch - we have already seen court decisions that disregard established precedent, and demonstrate an inclination to roll back hard fought civil, reproductive and workers’ rights. We have little reason to believe this nominee won’t follow the same activist path.

Below is a brief background on Judge Kavanaugh’s extensive anti choice record:

Brett Kavanaugh

• Current position: Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
• Appointed by anti-abortionPresident George W. Bush and served as Senior Associate Counsel and in various other positions in the George W. Bush White House.
• Active in the conservative Federalist Society.
• Contributed to anti-choice, extreme politicians including Henry Hyde and Orrin Hatch.
• Issued a strongly worded dissent against a D.C. Circuit decision that allowed an undocumented young woman to access abortion care. Kavanaugh argued that despite the fact that the girl had already met all of Texas’ burdensome requirements for young women seeking abortion care (mandatory delay, state court approval, etc.), she should have to wait until she had an immigration sponsor to make “that momentous life decision.” He wrote, “The en banc majority…reflects a philosophy that unlawful immigrant minors have a right to immediate abortion on demand, not to be interfered with even by government efforts to help minors navigate what is undeniably a difficult situation by expeditiously transferring them to their sponsors.”
• In a heated dissent in Priests for Life v. HHS, Kavanaugh argued that the Affordable Care Act’s religious accommodation to the contraceptive-coverage policy placed a substantial burden on religious employers’ beliefs, even “if the religious organizations are misguided in thinking that this scheme…makes them complicit in facilitating contraception or abortion.”