On Sotomayor, Some Abortion Rights Backers Are Uneasy

[BlueJessamine]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — In nearly 11 years as a federal appeals court judge, President Obama’s choice for the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor, has never directly ruled on whether the Constitution protects a woman’s right to an abortion. But when she has written opinions that touched tangentially on abortion disputes, she has reached outcomes in some cases that were favorable to abortion opponents.

Now, some abortion rights advocates are quietly expressing unease that Judge Sotomayor may not be a reliable vote to uphold Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 abortion rights decision. In a letter, Nancy Keenan, president of Naral Pro-Choice America, urged supporters to press senators to demand that Judge Sotomayor reveal her views on privacy rights before any confirmation vote.

“Discussion about Roe v. Wade will — and must — be part of this nomination process,” Ms. Keenan wrote. “As you know, choice hangs in the balance on the Supreme Court as the last two major choice-related cases were decided by a 5-to-4 margin.”

Because Judge Sotomayor is the choice of a president who supports abortion rights at a time when Democrats hold a substantial majority in the Senate, both sides in the debate have tended to assume she could be counted on to preserve the Roe decision.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/us/politics/28abortion.html?_r=2&hp

[Ninga]

1. No government should have the right to legislate and tell women what to do with their bodies.

Period. I want to make my own choices.

[get the red out]

2. Agree

This is the make or break issue for me.

[hamsterjill]

15. I second your agreement.

This is also the make or break issue for me, as well.

[Control-Z]

23. For me too.

If I had it my way, it would be the single most important consideration when choosing.

[madrchsod]

3. she can not give an opinion on an issue she may face on the court.

what needs to be looked at is the history and reasonings on the rulings she gave in each of these cases mentioned

[No Elephants]

9. People have looked and that's why they are upset. Apparently, she has not had to decide

a case directly on point and the cases she has decided that bear indirectly on the issue have been a mixed bag, at best. At least, that's what I heard on the Today Show.

Of course, in the hearings, she could say what Roberts said--that she'll respect Roe v. Wade and the cases that followe it. Trouble is, the Roberts Court then proceeded to overturn a relatively recent precedent.

[elleng]

4. About her point of view generally:

she 'prizes careful attention to the facts in the record and a methodical application of layers of legal principles.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/us/politics/27judge.html?ref=politics

[No Elephants]

10. Whatever that may mean. No judge is going to say they disregard the facts and the law and

decide on the basis or gut instinct or political view (even if that is the reality).

[elleng]

19. This observation was made by 'neutral parties,'

not by Judge Sotomayor or others.

[ananda]

5. It's true that most Hispanic Catholics ..

.. are anti choice.

I was wondering whether Sotomayor is pro choice,
and I still don't know. That does worry me.

[calico1]

7. I would say that is true of Hispanic Catholics that

are practicing Catholics. I do not know if she is.

I am also Puerto Rican and Catholic (and a woman). I have been pro choice ever since my early 20's. (I am 51 now).

Unless she is a very devout, practicing Catholic I don't think that her being Hispanic and Catholic is going to make her more likely to be anti choice than if she wasn't.

[Cybergata]

21. Thank You for saying this.

People immediately think all Catholics are opposed to Roe v. Wade, but that isn't true. Also thinking all Catholics mindlessly follow whatever the Pope says is silly. I know more Catholics who believe the pope is WRONG on birth control. BTW, I'm Hispanic but not Catholic. We were kicked out of the church when my grandfather divorced my grandmother in the 1920s. They never liked each other, and their marriage was an arranged marriage.

[AlphaCentauri]

11. I have never seen Hispanic Catholics killing doctors

to prove that they don't agree with abortion, Hispanic Catholics are more pro-family than pro abortion, they don't see abortion as birth control.

[No Elephants]

13. People who follow what the Pope says are anti-abortion, regardless of ethnicity. NO ONE is pro-

abortion. The stupid term "pro-abortion" should disappear from the English language because it is vilely deceptive propaganda, nothing more, nothing less.

I don't know of any group that is anti-family or pro-abortion or who thinks abortion should be used as a method of birth control. Finally, all Hispanics do not share a single view on anything just because they speak a language that originated in Spain centuries ago.

The only issue is Judge Sotomayor's position on choice. I don't think anyone knows it.

[Proletariatprincess]

6. It isn't about abortion rights...it's about women's rights.

Im always chagrinned when I read the phrase abortion rights. The right of a woman to control what happens with her reproductive life is her own. That would include birth control and, in a vague way, cosmetic surgery. Yet we don't use the term birth control rights. Imagine how silly that would sound considering that birth control is the responsibility of both sexes. Would the SCOTUS weigh in the right of a man to wear a condom? What about all those potential sacred sperm/potential fetusus that are spilt on countless tissues when a boy reaches puberty? I would like to see SCOTUS rule on masturbation rights.
:sarcasm:

[Bluenorthwest]

8. As we said 'back in the day'

If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a Sacrament.

[No Elephants]

14. Especially if they could become pregnant by rape (which, IMO, includes incest and statutory rape)..

[Yupster]

16. Yeah people said lots of sexist stuff

quite openly in the old days.

[Dutch]

18. If by "we" you mean misandrists, then I don't doubt you said that.

[No Elephants]

12. It's about the right of all Americans to privacy and certain very basic

rights over their own bodies. It only seems like a women's right bc men don't get pregnant and nothing is comparable to getting pregnant. If overpopulation became a threat (as it is), would we force men to get sterilized? If we did, we'd have to overrule Roe v. Wade first because that was decided on the right to privacy, not women's rights.

[Mithreal]

17. I won't be surprised if President Obama doesn't protect us on Roe v. Wade

When it comes to corporations versus individuals I heard on Thom Hartmann she may not be the best choice either, but it is still early, we don't know a lot about her decisions. Otherwise she seems a very strong choice for a centrist.

[gulfcoastliberal]

20. K&R... I don't trust her. nt

[nichomachus]

22. Oh, you mean pro-choice people will oppose her just because they don't get their pony?

:sarcasm:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

24. Funny how she's being beaten up by both sides on this issue

Both citing their unease, yet neither have any facts to base their feelings on.

[David Zephyr]

25. She must let Congress know that she considers Roe v. Wade settled law.

I'm sorry. Abortion rights for women should not be left up to a guessing game when Sotomayor goes before the Senate. Either she believes it is settled law or she doesn't.

This is 2009. There should be no guessing and blind trusting on this issue when it comes to nominees.

There will be 6 Catholics out of 9 Justices on the Court. That is a reprehensible misrepresentation of the American populace. It's a disgrace.

Because of this, Sotomayor will have to be candid, frank and upfront with the Senate.

Should Sotomayor turn out to be opposed to a woman's right to choose, then Obama would have made a tremendous, incalculable mistake.

[kaylynwright]

26. scary to me

As a young female, it is scary to me not knowing whether she is Pro-Choice or Pro-Life. This is such an important deciding factor on whether people would support her or not, depending on their views on the issue.

[bvar22]

27. Roe is a valid concern....

...but I also need to know where she stands on:

Citizens vs. The Government

and

Corporations vs. Consumers

[underpants]

28. MSNBC uses "Abortion backers"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3897758