Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a pro-abortion rights Republican, said in a statement after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that the ruling was “inconsistent” with what Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh said during their confirmation testimony.
SCOTUS VOTES TO OVERTURN ROE V. WADE, PAVING WAY FOR STATE ABORTION BANS
“The threshold question of whether abortion is legal needs to be consistent at a national level,” Collins said. “States can account for regional differences with regulations like parental notification requirements, but the basic right needs to be the same for all American women.”
Collins said the Supreme Court “has abandoned a fifty-year precedent at a time that the country is desperate for stability.”
“This ill-considered action will further divide the country at a moment when, more than ever in modern times, we need the Court to show both consistency and restraint,” Collins said. “Throwing out a precedent overnight that the country has relied upon for half a century is not conservative. It is a sudden and radical jolt to the country that will lead to political chaos, anger, and a further loss of confidence in our government.”
Collins went on to argue the decision is “inconsistent with what Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh said in their testimony and their meetings with me, where they both were insistent on the importance of supporting long-standing precedents that the country has relied upon.”
SUPREME COURT ABORTION DECISION DRAWS CONGRESSIONAL GOP PRAISE AND DEMOCRATIC IRE
Collins said she continues to support legislation she introduced with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, such as the Reproductive Choice Act, which would codify the legal standards previously set in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. It is a bill that would do so more narrowly than a sweeping abortion rights bill Senate Democrats failed to pass earlier this year.
Collins also said she is working with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) on a bipartisan bill that would codify Roe and Casey, as well as Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt and Griswold v. Connecticut. The Griswold case found there is a right to marital privacy and struck down state restrictions on contraception. In the wake of Friday’s rulings, some pro-abortion rights advocates argued the Dobbs case might give way to restrictions on contraceptives. Justice Clarence Thomas suggested in a concurring opinion in Dobbs that the court should also reconsider Griswold.
Collins said the legislation “would enshrine important abortion protections into law without undercutting statutes that have been in place for decades and without eliminating basic conscience protections that are relied upon by health care providers who have religious objections to performing abortions.”
“Our goal with this legislation is to do what the Court should have done — provide the consistency in our abortion laws that Americans have relied upon for 50 years,” she said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Collins cast a deciding vote to confirm Kavanaugh after an extended and controversial confirmation process.
