The Center for Reproductive Rights is deeply troubled by President Bush’s nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito to replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court. Nancy Northup, President of the Center issued this statement in response:

"Judge Alito’s fifteen-year record on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit raises grave concerns about whether he believes a woman’s fundamental right to make private decisions about her reproductive health is worthy of constitutional protection. Most notably, in 1991 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Judge Alito argued for a legal standard that would have permitted almost any restriction on abortion, unless it would have banned abortion outright, or given another person veto power or imposed a ‘severe limitation’ on a woman’s ability to get an abortion.

"In the lower court’s decision in Casey, Judge Alito dissented, stating that he would have upheld the Pennsylvania law’s provision requiring a woman to tell her husband when she was having an abortion. And yet, the Supreme Court later struck down that provision, noting that the law would harm ‘many’ women and was ‘likely to prevent a significant number of women from obtaining an abortion.’ Judge Alito also would have upheld the law despite its lack of an exception for women who would be psychologically abused or whose children would be abused if they notified their husbands.

"In Alexander v. Whitman (1997) and Planned Parenthood v. Farmer (2000), Judge Alito chose to write separate concurrences, apparently to distance himself from the majority’s opinion applying Supreme Court precedents in Roe v. Wade and Stenberg v. Carhart, respectively. In his Senate confirmation hearings, he should be carefully questioned about the rationale and import of his concurring opinions.

"With these decisions in mind, we strongly urge the Senate to vigorously probe the nominee on his judicial philosophy and his allegiance to the rule of law. A Supreme Court nominee who does not respect constitutional precedents protecting a woman’s reproductive freedom should not be given the responsibility of standing guard over the Constitution."