Monday during an interview with The Des Moines Register, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said judicial nominees who would not uphold Roe v. Wade were akin to being “racist or anti-Semitic or homophobic.”
Gillibrand said, “I will only appoint judges and justices who see Roe v. Wade as settled precedent because it is. It is the law of the land It has been for over thirty years. And the truth is woman reproductive freedom should not be an ideologic or political issue. I think it’s an issue of basic human rights.”
When asked if she would have a pro-Roe v. Wade litmus test, Gillibrand said, “I think there’s some issues that have such moral clarity that we have as a society decided that the other side is not acceptable. Imagine saying that it’s OK to appoint a judge who’s racist or anti-Semitic or homophobic. Telling—asking someone to appoint someone who takes away basic human rights of any group of people in America — I don’t think that those are political issues anymore.”
She added, “We believe in this country in the separation of church and state, and I respect the rights of every American to hold their religious beliefs true to themselves, but our country and our Constitution has always demanded that we have a separation of church and state. And all these efforts by President Trump and other ultra-radical conservative judges and justices to impose their faith on Americans is contrary to our Constitution, and that’s what this is. And so, I believe that for all of these issues, they are not issues that there is a fair other side. There is no moral equivalency when you come to racism, and I do not believe there is a moral equivalency when it comes to changing laws that deny women reproductive freedom.”
(h/t WFB)
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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