I will only nominate judges who will uphold Roe v. Wade and protect reproductive rights.
By: Kirsten Gillibrand
Tags: Reproductive Rights, Politics, Kirsten Gillibrand, Election 2020, Policy

A woman’s right to make her own personal health decisions is nonnegotiable.

250 bills restricting abortion. 41 states. In just three months. And another bill signed today in Georgia.

That’s what the onslaught of Republican anti-abortion state legislation looked like this year.

As a candidate, Donald Trump said he would punish women for accessing abortion, and as president, he’s made good on that promise by stacking the Supreme Court with anti-choice extremists Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch. Republicans nationwide push these bills because they want a court ruling that guts abortion access nationwide, forever.

We simply cannot let that happen. The decision about if and when to start a family should be made by a woman and her doctor — not Republican legislators, not Brett Kavanaugh and certainly not Donald Trump.

So today, I’m announcing that as president, I will only nominate judges — including Supreme Court justices — who will commit to upholding Roe v. Wade as settled law and protect women’s reproductive rights.

I realize that traditionally, presidents and presidential candidates haven’t drawn lines in the sand on judicial appointments.

That tradition ended when Mitch McConnell obstructed the nomination process and stole a Supreme Court seat, when Donald Trump nominated dozens of ideologically extreme judges hand-picked by far-right think tanks, and when Republicans confirmed a Supreme Court Justice who is credibly accused of sexual misconduct.

Women deserve a president who understands the real stakes of this fight for the judiciary. President Trump is appointing circuit court judges at a record pace, not to mention making two Supreme Court appointments. The impact of those appointments on Americans — and on reproductive rights in this country — will extend far beyond the end of his presidency. We have to fight back.

I believe that reproductive rights are human rights, and they are nonnegotiable. Women in America must be trusted to make their own medical decisions and have access to the full range of reproductive health care, including abortion.

Republicans have been aggressively chipping away at access to reproductive health care in states across the country: Six-week abortion bans, before most women even know they’re pregnant, became law in Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia and Mississippi already this year. The Alabama House passed a bill last week to ban ALL abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest. And Texas legislators introduced an absurdly draconian bill to make abortion a crime punishable with the death penalty for both women and their doctors.

It’s all part of one coordinated assault by Republicans who hope to overturn Roe v. Wade as soon as this year. And make no mistake: That is the end goal.

I have always stood up to protect women’s access to safe and legal abortion, birth control and health care at Planned Parenthood. I’ve vowed to overturn President Trump’s domestic gag rule — which prevents doctors from giving their patients information about the full range of reproductive health care — on day one of my presidency. And as president, I will protect our courts from anti-choice extremists.

American women deserve a president who will fiercely defend their rights. If you agree, sign on to support my pledge to only nominate judges and Supreme Court justices who will uphold Roe and protect reproductive rights.