President Donald Trump expressed confidence this week that his U.S. Supreme Court nominee will be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Speaking with Piers Morgan at the Daily Mail, Trump said conservative Judge Brett Kavanaugh may be on the high court when it considers the future of the infamous abortion decision Roe v. Wade.
Kavanaugh, a federal judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for D.C., could swing the Supreme Court to a 5-4 conservative majority and be a deciding opinion on vital issues like abortion restrictions and Roe v. Wade.
Trump predicted it could be a “long time” before the U.S. Supreme Court hears a case that could overturn Roe, but “someday in the distant future there could be a vote.”
Morgan, assuming wrongly that almost all women support Roe v. Wade, asked Trump if he understands why women are worried about his choice of Kavanaugh, according to Bloomberg.
Trump responded that he did understand those who have concerns, but the abortion issue is “a 50-50 question,” referring to Americans’ sharp divide on the matter.
Here’s more from the report:
“I think he is going to be confirmed and someday in the distant future there could be a vote,” Trump said of his Supreme Court nominee. “There’s also a very good chance there won’t be a vote. We’ll have to see what happens. A case has to get up there. It could be a long time before a case ever gets up there.”
Trump’s characterization of views as “50/50” isn’t accurate. Few Americans want abortion to be outlawed — and those opinions have been steady for some 40 years.
When asked specifically about the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that affirmed women’s right to legal abortion in the U.S., a poll published June 29 by the Kaiser Family Foundation said 29 percent want to see the ruling overturned, against 67 percent who said they would not.
But Bloomberg and other mainstream news outlets reporting about Trump’s interview are the ones presenting an inaccurate picture. While a few polls show support for Roe, other polls indicate many Americans do not understand the case or its outcome.
Gallup polls consistently indicate strong opposition to the permissive abortion law that Roe created. Roe v. Wade, coupled with its companion case, Doe v. Bolton, allows abortion for basically any reason through all nine months of pregnancy. As a result, the United States is one of only seven countries in the world that allows elective abortions past 20 weeks — a fact confirmed by the Washington Post fact checker.
Polls consistently show that a majority of Americans oppose most abortions. A 2018 Gallup poll found that 53 percent of Americans want all or most abortions to be made illegal. A Knights of Columbus poll from January also found that 76 percent of Americans support significant abortion restrictions.
National pro-life leaders have expressed high hopes for Kavanaugh and the future of unborn babies’ rights at the U.S. Supreme Court.
A federal judge, Kavanaugh has served on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for D.C. for more than a decade, where he developed an extensive record of protecting religious liberty and enforcing restrictions on abortion. Pro-life leaders believe he would do the same on the U.S. Supreme Court.
