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Continetti: Life Issue Drives Debate Over Republican Nominees To Supreme Court

September 21, 2018

Washington Free Beacon editor-in-chief Matthew Continetti said debates over Republican nominees to the Supreme Court are driven by the life issue.

"There’s no question since the Bork nomination in the late 1980’s that the Supreme Court has become a contested site over social issues, the life issue in particular, and that is why the debates over Republican nominees to the Supreme Court are so polarizing," Continetti said on "EWTN News Nightly."

Robert Bork was nominated to the Supreme Court in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan. Democrats firmly opposed Bork’s nomination, with Massachusetts senator Ted Kennedy suggesting Bork's confirmation would undo abortion protections and bring back segregation. The Senate ultimately did not confirm Bork.

Continetti pointed out that Justice Neil Gorsuch was confirmed by a thin margin last year.

"Remember, it was just last year with Judge Gorsuch, he got through barely, and most likely Kavanaugh will get through with an even thinner margin this time if he does make confirmation," he said.

Gorsuch was confirmed by a vote of 54 in favor, 45 against.

Continetti added that Democrats have been using the Supreme Court to enact a liberal social agenda.

"So it is the life issue that is driving this debate, and the liberal Democrats understand that they have been using the Court for generations now to push through a liberal social agenda that they can’t get through in the elected bodies of the presidency and the Congress," he said.

Following Kavanaugh’s nomination, pro-choice protesters rallied at the Supreme Court yelling, "My body, my choice!" and "Her body, her choice!" Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D., NY) said Kavanaugh "can’t be trusted to safeguard rights for women." The pro-choice group NARAL called him an "anti-choice ideologue."

According to Gallup, most Americans support restrictions on abortion. 18 percent of Americans believe that abortion should be "illegal in all circumstances," and an additional 35 percent believe that it should be legal only "in a few circumstances."

A majority of respondents said that abortion should be illegal after the first three months of pregnancy, with 65 percent saying it should be illegal in the second trimester and 81 percent saying it should be illegal in the third trimester.

Abortion restrictions vary across the United States although 43 states prohibit abortion, usually with an exception for the life or health of the mother after a specified point of pregnancy, according to the Guttmacher Institute.