Women’s March co-president: Kavanaugh threatens more than just Roe v. Wade

The Women’s March co-president, Bob Bland, said Friday that Roe v. Wade isn’t the only issue at stake if Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed as the next Supreme Court justice.

“Women are concerned with more than just Roe [v. Wade] — our reproductive rights are just one of the many types of rights that we stand to lose under Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination,” Bland told Hill.TV co-hosts Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton.

Bland said every major progressive women’s group has come to Washington to protest Kavanugh’s nomination because they too recognize his “danger to women.” 

“Women are afraid for their equal rights, for voting rights, for the rollback of Civil Rights — there’s so many different ways a Kavanaugh confirmation could hurt women,” Bland said. 

The activist said she has been on Capitol Hill all week, where she witnessed some of the most “sad and heartbreaking stories of my life.” She encouraged people to keep speaking out against Kavanaugh’s nomination.

“There’s a lot of cynicism on both sides of The Hill and everyday Americans don’t really care about that — what they care about is knowing that they’re rights aren’t going to be rolled back,” Bland told Hill.TV.

If confirmed, Kavanaugh could tip the Supreme Court to the right for decades.

Democrats and progressives have rallied against his nomination, warning that he could vote to overturn the decision in Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion.

In a 2003 email obtained by The New York Times, Kavanaugh had questioned whether the 1973 landmark case was the “settled law of the land.”

Democrats had pressed Kavanaugh on his stance on abortion during the hearings. But Kavanaugh sidestepped those questions, saying that the case was precedent and had been “reaffirmed many times.”

But Democrats called that answer a dodge and noted that future courts could overrule the decision.

Republican and Democratic senators have also clashed over access to Kavanaugh’s documents during his time as a White House counsel for former President George W. Bush.

Kavanaugh, though, is likely to be confirmed as Republicans hold a 51 to 49 advantage over Democrats in the Senate.

— Tess Bonn