With all the other fireworks at Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing today this may have been lost, but not with women (and men) on the Senate. Several are speaking out tonight after Kavanaugh seemed to refer to contraception as “abortion-inducing drugs.”
Judge Kavanaugh was responding to a question from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Thursday about his 2015 dissent in the Priests for Life v. HHS case. Kavanaugh had sided with the religious organization, which didn’t want to provide employees with insurance coverage for contraceptives.
Judge Kavanaugh just said Burwell v. Hobby Lobby was about "abortion-inducing drugs." That's a GROSS misunderstanding of the case, which was about insurance coverage for contraceptives. It's further proof of Kavanaugh's hostility toward women's reproductive freedom. #WhatsAtStake
— Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) September 6, 2018
There are two things wrong here. First, birth control doesn’t cause abortions. The very name “contraception” means prevents conception, either by preventing the ovaries from releasing an egg, preventing sperm from fertilizing an egg, or preventing a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. Medical experts agree that emergency contraception does not disrupt an established pregnancy (the medical and legal definition of pregnancy is that it begins after implantation).
Second, the plaintiff in that case objected to covering ALL forms of birth control, not just emergency contraception.
Newsflash, Brett Kavanaugh: Contraception is NOT abortion. Anyone who says so is peddling extremist ideology – not science – and has no business sitting on the Supreme Court. #WhatsAtStake #StopKavanaugh https://t.co/gaZA3AnIcE
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) September 6, 2018
No. That's not how these things work. https://t.co/ZbEDlGuadu
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) September 6, 2018
That contradicts science and provides a DANGEROUS indication of how he would vote if he is confirmed to the Supreme Court #WhatsAtStake https://t.co/7luZO7YPh8
— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) September 6, 2018
This is a red-alarm moment. In his confirmation hearings, #Kavanaugh just called birth control “abortion-inducing drugs.” If you didn't believe it before, believe it now – a woman's constitutional right to abortion AND birth control are both 100% at stake. https://t.co/heXqS2mz83
— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) September 6, 2018