April 18, 2024

Constituents of Sen. Susan Collins Demand Defending Abortion Rights



National women’s rights advocates are calling on Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to vote against any Supreme Court nominee who has indicated they could vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade. (Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)


“Too much is on the line to not believe Donald Trump will do exactly what he said he’d do.”


By Julia Conley / 07.03.2018

With the news that President Donald Trump hasĀ interviewedĀ four anti-choice judges asĀ potential nomineesĀ to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court, women’s rights advocates are turning their attention to Sen. Susan Collins,Ā putting pressure on the so-called “moderate” Republican from MaineĀ  to vote against any nominee who does not support access to abortion care and to defendĀ Roe vs. Wade.

NARAL Pro-Choice America announced Tuesday that it had purchased full-page ads in four newspapers in Maine as well as ad space on the publications’ websites.

“Trump has been loud and clear in saying he’d pick Supreme Court Justices to end Roe v. Wade,” reads the ad. “We believe him. Don’t you, Senator Collins?”

NARAL’s ad will appear in four Maine newspapers and online.

“Donald Trump has been crystal clear. He has a litmus test for his Supreme Court nominee: end Roe v. Wade. He said it repeatedly during hisĀ campaign.We believe him. For the sake of women in Maine, and across the country, we hope Senator Collins does too,” NARAL President Ilyse Hogue said in aĀ statement.

Collins has equivocated regarding whether she would vote to confirm a Trump nominee who was anti-choiceā€”as many of the 25 who are considered contenders are.

“I’m going to have an in-depth discussion with the nominee and I believe very much thatĀ Roe v. WadeĀ is settled law, as it has been described by Chief Justice Roberts. It has been established as a constitutional right forā€¦45 years and was reaffirmed 26 years ago,” CollinsĀ toldĀ ABCĀ on Sunday. Last week she alsoĀ describedĀ RoeĀ as “settled law” toĀ CBS,Ā declining to say whether she would protect the law by voting against a judge who aims to overturn it.

Also on Sunday she toldĀ CNN, “I would not support a nominee who demonstrated hostility to Roe v. Wade because that would mean to me that their judicial philosophy did not include a respect for established decisions, established law.”

NARAL and other pro-choice groups are demanding that Collins recognize the danger of confirming a nominee who, like Judge William Pryor, hasĀ calledĀ Roe vs. WadeĀ “the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history” or Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who hasĀ calledĀ it an “erroneous decision.”

Should all Democrats vote against a Trump nominee, Republicans will only be able to afford to lose one vote. Pro-choice groups are targeting Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) as well as Collins.

“The burden of proof is on the nominee to prove that they will proactively protect Roe v. Wade and until they do no senator, and particularly no senators who consider themselves pro-choice, should vote for the nominee. Too much is on the line to not believe Donald Trump will do exactly what he said he’d do,” Hogue said.

TheĀ Portland Press Herald, theĀ Bangor Daily News, theĀ Lewiston Sun Journal,Ā and theĀ Kennebec Journal/Morning SentinelĀ will all run NARAL’s ad both in their print editions and online. It will also appear in Google and Twitter searches.

Meanwhile, pro-choice Americans have begunĀ sendingĀ coat hangers in bulk to Collins’s officesā€”a grim reminder of one method women used to perform dangerous, illegal abortions before the Supreme Court passedĀ Roe vs. WadeĀ in 1973.

Multiple polls have found that most Americans do not believeĀ Roe vs. Wadeshould be overturned, unlike Trump’s nominees. A Quinnipiac University poll released MondayĀ foundĀ that 63 percent agreed with the decision, while the Kaiser Family FoundationĀ showedĀ last weekthat 67 percent wanted the ruling to stand.



Originally published by Common Dreams under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license.