US Medical Association Opposes Nomination of Samuel Alito to Supreme Court

Contact:
Ann McCall
(202) 466-3825
communications@arhp.org

The Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP), representing over 11,000 health care providers, researchers, educators, and advocates in the reproductive health field, announced today its opposition to the nomination of Samuel A. Alito to the United States Supreme Court.

As a judge, Alito’s rulings have shown a clear hostility toward women’s rights and a disregard for the right to privacy. In 1991, Alito wrote the lone dissent in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey stating that a woman must notify her husband in order to terminate a pregnancy, claiming that this was not an “undue burden” on women. In 1992, the Supreme Court, disagreeing with Alito, upheld the right to an abortion and struck down the spousal notification law. Alito also wrote a decision weakening the Family and Medical Leave Act, a law which protects workers’ rights for people in times of family and medical emergencies.

“By arguing in Casey that married women must notify their spouses before obtaining an abortion—even when they’re being abused—Judge Alito demonstrates he is out of step with the values of most Americans,” says Wayne. C. Shields, ARHP president and CEO.

In 1985, as a lawyer, Judge Alito said that the constitution does not protect the right to an abortion. When asked about this during the confirmation hearings this week, he refused to state whether or not he still stood by that statement. In the Reagan Administration, he outlined a strategy to chip away at, and eventually overturn Roe v. Wade.

“Judge Alito’s hostility toward women’s access to their constitutionally protected right to an abortion sends a clear message that, if confirmed, women’s health is in jeopardy,” says Shields.