Democrats need to wage a battle to reject Kavanagh for the Supreme Court. However, they make a serious mistake to turn it into a Roe v. Wade battle. Roe v. Wade denied states the right to prevent abortions, although states retain the right to regulate them. Those states that would prevent abortions, but for Roe v. Wade have already regulated access to them so that women face inexorable obstacles in obtaining them. For example, 23 states have regulations that apply to sites where abortions are performed (such as the width of corridors), unnecessary licensing requirements for providers, or restrictive proximity to hospital requirements. Some of these regulations are being litigated and may come before the Supreme Court.
The repeal of Roe v. Wade or the state regulation of abortions to make them virtually impossible to obtain is almost certain to happen. And it is unlikely that Democrats can do anything to protect women’s rights to having this procedure performed. Even if Democrats can prevent Kavanaugh from being confirmed, Trump has a list of 25 or so Supreme Court candidates, vetted by the conservative Federalist Society, who all share the same views on women’s reproductive rights. Trump will simply submit the next name on the list and we can expect the same results. As is too often true of Democrats, we had our opportunity to effectively advocate for the issue but failed to do so. This fight is not the 2018 fight. If we wanted to protect the reproductive rights of women we should have done it in 2016.
The repeal of Roe v. Wade or the state regulation of abortions to make them virtually impossible to obtain is almost certain to happen. And it is unlikely that Democrats can do anything to protect women’s rights to having this procedure performed. Even if Democrats can prevent Kavanaugh from being confirmed, Trump has a list of 25 or so Supreme Court candidates, vetted by the conservative Federalist Society, who all share the same views on women’s reproductive rights. Trump will simply submit the next name on the list and we can expect the same results. As is too often true of Democrats, we had our opportunity to effectively advocate for the issue but failed to do so. This fight is not the 2018 fight. If we wanted to protect the reproductive rights of women we should have done it in 2016.
