February 09, 2019 - 2:21 PM
Critics of Republican Sen. Susan Collins are angry over Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's opinion in an abortion case, saying it's proof that he's not following through on his assurance to respect past Supreme Court decisions on abortion.
Kavanaugh was on the losing side of a 5-4 ruling that blocked a Louisiana law requiring abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.
NARAL Pro-Choice America claims the dissent shows Kavanaugh's instance to Collins that he would respect precedent "was a complete lie," the Sun Journal reports .
But in his dissent he said otherwise.
He didn't join three justices who clearly opposed abortion. Instead, he acknowledged a dissent that striking down a similar Texas law is the guiding precedent and he seemed to suggest he might be willing to vote the other way with more information.
"A lot of the critics of Justice Kavanaugh's dissenting opinion haven't even read it," said Annie Clark, communications director for Collins.
Critics were silent when Kavanaugh joined the majority in rejecting appeals from Kansas and Louisiana in their effort to strip Medicaid money from Planned Parenthood, she noted.
Collins played a pivotal role in securing Kavanaugh's nomination.
She insisted in October on the Senate floor that "his views on honouring precedent would preclude attempts to do by stealth that which one has committed not to do overtly" to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that recognized women's right to choose to have an abortion.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019