Top Pro-Abortion Senator: Sonia Sotomayor Will Support Roe on Supreme Court
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 3, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — One of the leading pro-abortion members of the Senate has confirmed Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s pro-abortion credentials following a private meeting with her. Sen. Diane Feinstein, a California Democrat and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says Sotomayor is pro-abortion.
After a private meeting with President Barack Obama’s high court pick, Feinstein said Sotomayor has a "real respect for precedent" on abortion.
That’s code for saying Sotomayor will affirm the Roe v. Wade decision the Supreme Court handed down in 1973 that allowed virtually unlimited abortions.
"I think she is a woman who is well-steeped in the law and well-steeped in precedent," Feinstein explained. "And I believe that she has a real respect for precedent, and that she was not just saying that. And if that is really true, then I would agree with her. And I believe it is."
Feinstein told reporters that she asked Sotomayor about abortion in general terms and that she planned to ask follow-up questions about abortion during the confirmation hearings expected to take place in July.
“We had a conversation in general about that,” Feinstein said.
In fact, Feinstein was so assured about where Sotomayor stands on abortion that she is pressing the Senate to make her confirmation its number one priority — even before tacking health care.
“I think we ought to do this nomination before we do health care," she said.
The pro-abortion senator’s comments will likely provide more assurance for pro-abortion groups that have provided limited support and endorsement to her thus far.
It could also breathe life into the opposition of Sotomayor by pro-life groups, who have noted some of her positive abortion decisions but said they don’t represent her views on abortion policy.
They have also noted that Sotomayor has made remarks that make her appear to be a judicial activist who would make law from the bench in the same way the high court invented a so-called right to abortion.
President Obama, who is pro-abortion, has also noted he is comfortable with Sotomayor’s abortion position.
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