News

Monday April 12, 2010


Pro-Abort Groups Praise Justice Stevens, Call for Pro-Abort Successor

By James Tillman

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – As Justice John Paul Stevens retires from the U.S. Supreme Court, pro-abortion groups are calling upon President Obama to ensure that another firmly pro-abortion justice will succeed him.

Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, praised Justice Stevens for his “long and productive tenure as an associate justice.”

Stevens was among the majority of the members of the Supreme Court who voted to uphold Roe. v. Wade in the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey. He also opposed the Court’s decision in Gonzales v. Cahart, which upheld the constitutionality of the partial birth abortion ban, and wrote the majority opinion in Hill v. Colorado, which upheld the constitutionality of “buffer zones” around abortion clinics.

“As President Obama now turns to selecting a new justice for the court,” continued Richards, “we have full confidence that he will choose someone who will stand equally strong for the constitutional principles that Justice Stevens upheld so steadfastly.”

A statement issued by the Nancy Keenan, President of NARAL Pro-Choice America, began by praising Stevens as “among the strongest supporters of the right to choose.”

“Stevens’ retirement now gives President Obama the opportunity to nominate a fair-minded individual,” she continued, “who, like him and the majority of Americans, supports the constitutional right to privacy as reflected in Roe.”

Despite Keenan’s assertion, however, a recent poll suggests that more Americans identify as pro-life than as pro-choice.

Keenan goes on to promise that NARAL will “will assess the eventual nominee’s complete record on privacy and other relevant issues in the same way we did during Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation process.”

Vicki Saporta, President of the National Abortion Federation, said that “this vacancy is an opportunity for President Obama to select a justice who will uphold the right to privacy found in the United States Constitution with the same vigor as Justice Stevens.”

The supposed right to privacy in the Constitution was the basis for the court’s decision in Roe v. Wade.

Terry O’Neill, President of the National Organization for Women (NOW), praised Justice Stevens not only for upholding Roe v. Wade but also for upholding “LGBT rights and other principles of social justice.”

She continued by calling on President Obama to nominate a woman to the Supreme Court. “The Supreme Court is out of balance,” she said, “with women making up a mere 22 percent of the bench. That’s simply not enough.”

At the moment there appears to be a significant likelihood that her wish will be granted. Three of the top potential nominees are women: Elena Kagan, solicitor general of the United States; Diane Wood, of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security. All of them are strong supporters of abortion.


See related stories on LifeSiteNews.com:

Liberal Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens to Retire

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/apr/10040906.html