Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court leaves much hanging in the balance.
Should Kavanaugh be confirmed, the rights of women, people of color, LGBT people and other marginalized communities could be impacted, and the ideological identity of the Court could be shifted for generations to come. His nomination also re-affirms President Trump’s promise to only consider nominees for the nation’s highest bench who would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision legalizing abortion nationwide. If confirmed, Kavanaugh would be the fifth vote on the court needed to reverse the decision. Without Roe, women in nearly half the country could lose abortion access overnight, and the door would be open for states to further restrict access and criminalize patients, providers and clinic staff.
In a new video produced by Center for American Progress, in partnership with our publisher, Feminist Majority Foundation, women from across the country are testifying to show what’s at stake should Kavanaugh be confirmed, telling their own stories of the debilitating barriers that people face when trying to access abortion care and what it was like before abortion care was legal.
We launched our Daring to Remember series after Kavanaugh’s nomination in an effort to make clear how critical abortion access was—and how serious a threat a Court opposed to Roe was to women’s lives. In the weeks since his nomination, we collected and shared stories of women’s lives before Roe and in the years since, as attacks on clinics and patients and attempts to chip away at access have denied its full promise.
The stories our community entrusted to us were heartbreaking and devastating. We cannot and must not go back to a time when women attempted abortions via wire hangers, knitting needles and vitamin overdoses; faced abuse and assault at the hands of back-alley abortionists; crossed borders alone to regain control of their destinies; risked and lost their lives in pursuit of autonomy.
There is no single state where abortion does not have the support of a majority of voters. Across the country, Americans believe that Roe is a fundamental piece of our national fabric, and that it should remain so.
There is no more critical time to remind your lawmakers that you are part of that majority. Call your Senators at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to reject Kavanaugh’s nomination.
