Gorsuch would overreach into women's lives

I’m gravely concerned about President Trump’s nominee for the United States Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch. When it comes to checking extreme politicians’ overreach into our most personal health care decisions, I hope both of Montana’s senators will prioritize women and strongly oppose his confirmation.

Judge Gorsuch’s record on women’s rights is deeply disturbing. Ruling in the original Hobby Lobby decision, the case that undermined the Affordable Care Act’s birth control insurance mandate, Gorsuch joined the majority, affirming that corporations are “persons” who can exercise the freedom of religion for the purposes of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. In Gorsuch’s view, corporations have more rights than individual women and can impose their extreme religious views on our bodies.

He also sought to uphold Utah Gov. Gary Herbert’s decision to block Planned Parenthood Association of Utah from receiving state-administered federal funds. This decision came on the heels of misleading smear videos that falsely portrayed Planned Parenthood, and the governor claimed he was not acting on the basis of his opposition to abortion. But Gov. Herbert’s statements after he issued the ban made it clear that the decision was clearly a punishment for Planned Parenthood’s role in providing comprehensive health care for women, including abortion care. In fact, in trial court briefs, Gov. Herbert admitted three things: 1) PPAU did nothing illegal; 2) No federal funding administered by the state even went to abortion care; and 3) The videos were totally false.

Judge Gorsuch’s dissent in Planned Parenthood Association of Utah v. Herbert (2016) illustrates how dangerous he would be when it comes to women’s ability to access health care. A circuit court panel directed the district court to issue a preliminary injunction against enforcing the funding ban. That’s when Gorsuch, writing in dissent from the court’s decision not to reconsider the panel decision on the ban, displayed his support for taking Gov. Herbert at his word that he was not trying to punish PPAU for providing abortion care.  

Gorsuch accused the majority in the decision of lacking “the sort of comity this court normally seeks to show the States and their elected representatives” — implying the court should defer to the executive power of the governor. Seeing how Trump has already abused his executive power during his short time in office, such statements fly in the face of an independent judiciary. We must ensure an independent judicial branch willing to stand up for individual rights.

Trump promised during the campaign to appoint justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade. According to a recent op-ed in the Kansas City Star, longtime anti-choice activist Kristan Hawkins, who has led Students For Life for the past decade, gushed about Gorsuch’s nomination. This is someone who has admitted that she would like to make birth control and IUDs illegal. Also troubling is that the white supremacist website, The Daily Stormer, expressed support for Gorsuch as a “hardcore religious right-winger, which is exactly what we wanted.”

Women in Utah, Montana and across the U.S. have received life-saving care from Planned Parenthood. Had Judge Gorsuch been in the majority in the PPAU case, women would have had compromised access to health care, gotten sick and likely died. We can’t take such a risk with the highest court in the country. Join me in calling Sens. Tester and Daines and asking them to strongly oppose Gorsuch’s confirmation. You can reach Sen. Daines at 406-453-0148 and Sen. Tester at 406-452-9585.

Martha Stahl

President and CEO

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana