Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is not on the Senate Judiciary Committee tasked with the confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh as the next Supreme Court justice, but for a second day on Wednesday, she joined protesters in the Hart Senate Office Building to say the nominee is “dangerous for women” and that “women will die” if he is seated on the high court.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand thanked the protesters, including those who were sharing stories about having an abortion and who wore t-shirts that read: “I Had An Abortion.”
“It couldn’t be clearer than it was in the hearing today,” Gillibrand said. “Just listen to his answers.”
“He would not protect a woman’s right to choose,” Gillibrand said. “He would not protect the constitutional right to make decisions about your own reproductive freedom, your own future, your own lives.”
Like other Democrats, Gillibrand believes that Kavanaugh would — despite the actual legal realities — overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that made abortion on demand the law of the land.
In fact, only one sitting Supreme Court justice, Clarence Thomas, has said he would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, and even if the decision were overturned, it would not criminalize abortion but return abortion law jurisdiction to the states.
“I think he’s a dangerous nominee,” Gillibrand said. “I think he’s dangerous for women.”
“I think he intends to criminalize abortion in this country,” Gillibrand. “I don’t think he will protect women in this country.”
Sen. Sasse said protesters have been screaming for decades that “women are going to die.” When you criminalize abortion and limit our reproductive health care, women die. It’s not “hysteria”: We’re in a fight for our lives. Sexist attacks won’t stop us.
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) September 5, 2018
When Breitbart News asked Gillibrand if she had read any of Kavanaugh’s decisions from the more than 12 years he has been a federal judge, Gillibrand said she had not but had heard speeches he has given.
“I heard many speeches, and I think those speeches alone — I think are disqualifying because he doesn’t believe in women’s reproductive freedom. He doesn’t believe that reproductive rights are in the Constitution anywhere,” Gillibrand said.
Gillibrand said that Kavanaugh does not believe women should have “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” and claimed high mortality rates for black women giving birth as further proof that Roe v. Wade should stand.
“Truly, women will die if this law is changed,” Gillibrand said. “And so we must push back, fight back because of institutional racism but also because his views on the world are so wrong for America.”
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