Health on the Line

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a fierce fighter for gender equality, LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, abortion rights, and health care for all. Because of her, women have the right to sign a mortgage without a man, to open a bank account without a male co-signer, to have a job without being discriminated against due to their gender, to be pregnant and have children without fearing they would lose their job. Ruth Bader Ginsburg committed her life to protecting rights, freedom, and the health of all people.

Losing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is not only heartbreaking, it’s terrifying. The Trump administration is using the final days before the 2020 Presidential election to put her legacy and our rights on the line.

Using Justice Ginsburg’s seat to restrict reproductive health care access and roll back the rights she worked so hard to protect and expand is an outrage. Trump nominee Amy Coney Barrett is an active and vocal threat to reproductive health and rights. She is openly critical of Roe v. Wade, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and the 2012 Supreme Court decision that upheld the ACA. Amy Coney Barret believes that judges should not uphold the law when there is a conflict with their own personal beliefs, and she has been clear that her beliefs include opposing marriage equality.

This administration is currently asking the Supreme Court to dismantle the Affordable Care Act – a decision that could rollback critical protections for people with preexisting conditions, birth control without a co-pay, Medicaid Expansion, and so much more. The Senate has gone more than 120 days without passing COVID-19 relief. But instead of focusing their efforts on healing this country from a pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 Americans, they are focused on rushing through a third Trump justice to the Supreme Court who would put health care in jeopardy for millions of people. It’s unconscionable. 

Planned Parenthood Central Coast Action Fund is calling on the Senate to not consider any nominee to replace Justice Ginsburg until after the inauguration. This rushed, blatantly partisan process is an insult to the legacy of Justice Ginsburg and it is a dire threat to our rights and our health.

Jenna Tosh is CEO of Planned Parenthood Central Coast Action Fund.