Pro-Life Leader Tells Senate Committee Sonia Sotomayor Would Back Abortion

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jul 16, 2009   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Pro-Life Leader Tells Senate Committee Sonia Sotomayor Would Back Abortion

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 16
, 2009

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The only representative of a pro-life group to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court urged members of the panel to vote against her. Charmaine Yoest told senators that Sotomayor would support abortion on the high court.

Yoest, the president of Americans United for Life said Sotomayor is not qualified to become a Supreme Court justice.

"Based on our research, we believe that Judge Sotomayor’s judicial philosophy is far outside of the mainstream, and that her confirmation will dramatically shift the dynamics of the Court," she said.

"Like most Americans, we believe that a nominee’s judicial philosophy goes to the heart of his or her qualifications to serve on the United States Supreme Court," Yoest added.

She cited several briefs the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund filed while Sotomayor was a member of its board of directors.

Yoest says the briefs all promote unlimited abortions at taxpayer expense and, despite Sotomayor’s protests to the contrary, her involvement in the group as its board member makes it so a vote for Sotomayor is a vote for abortion on demand.

"We believe that based on Judge Sotomayor’s record of prior statements and her involvement with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, Judge Sotomayor’s judicial philosophy makes her unqualified to serve on the Court," Yoest explained.

"AUL believes that a careful analysis of Judge Sotomayor’s positions taken in the PRLDEF briefs and of her judicial philosophy clearly indicate that as a justice, she would not respect the will of the people or their elected representatives, or even our written Constitution," she told the panel.

"Finally, we believe that as a justice, Judge Sotomayor would undermine any efforts by our elected representatives to pass even the most widely accepted regulations on abortion and circumvent the will of the people," Yoest said.

Yoest is the only representative of any pro-life groups to be invited to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

No representatives of any major pro-abortion groups, including NARAL, Planned Parenthood and others appear to be on the list of representatives invited by Democrats on the panel.

Related web sites:
Yoest’s full testimony – https://www.aul.org/Sotomayor_Testimony

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