From the moment President Trump announced his second Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, reactions from the Left have been extreme. Though the president’s shortlist contained jurists who struck even greater fear within the hearts of leftists than the final candidate, the usual crowd continues to warn us of impending doom.
Too many individuals see every event during this presidency through an apocalyptic lens. There is no saving any strength for crises that actually cause legitimate concern. Each day is an exhausting repeat of the one before, complete with hand-wringing and fear-mongering.
On Tuesday, Justice Anthony Kennedy ended his 30-year tenure on the high court. His official departure is the start of a new chapter, one that is sure to include a sharp increase in hysteria as we get closer to confirmation hearings. Once seated, Judge Kavanaugh will supposedly help usher in the end of Roe v. Wade. And according to select Yale Law students, faculty, and alumni, “people will die if he is confirmed.”
These warnings remind us of the steadfast determination of those who remain committed to sustaining a culture of death. Organizations like NARAL declare that ending the life of an unborn child is indeed a constitutional right. No longer is “safe, legal, and rare” their go-to branding. Apparently, right in line behind the freedoms of speech, religion, and the press is the ability to access to a life-ending choice for an unborn individual. The very people denouncing Kavanaugh’s nomination applaud a disastrous 7-2 decision that ushered in the legally protected killing of millions.
This goes beyond opinion, though. There is a campaign to plant seeds of fear in the minds of ordinary citizens. But this tactic is hardly new. The abortion industry and its supporters thrive on that very strategy. In the fight to stop Kavanaugh’s confirmation, they even claim the entire “future of our democracy” is at stake.
Included in their crusade is an abundance of misinformation. We are told that access to women’s healthcare is limited at best. This is to give the impression that Planned Parenthood and similar destinations are absolute necessities. After all, the federal government gives the abortion giant half a billion in funding every year. They try to highlight its supposed worth at every turn. Supporters, such as Mark Joseph Stern at Slate, will even float complete lies, all in an attempt to gain passionate converts, writing, “In the days and weeks following the fall of Roe, countless medical facilities would be shuttered, leaving millions of women with no meaningful access to clinic-based care.”
Notice how Stern is discussing the time after Roe falls. To him and others, it’s not a matter of “if” that happens — it’s “when.” Even with Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, it is not automatic or certain that the legal “right” to an abortion would be reconsidered. Stern also asserted that because abortion-centric clinics would close, millions of women around the country would be without any sort of care. This is entirely untrue. Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider, and other clinics like it, are the exception in women’s healthcare, not the rule.
According to LiveAction, women’s comprehensive health clinics “outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities 20 to 1.” The majority of women don’t even enter a Planned Parenthood clinic in any given year. Most women go elsewhere, to nonabortive facilities, for actual care. Stating that “millions of women” will be left to wander around with no “meaningful access,” is to deliberately ignore the facts in an attempt to mislead readers. There is no truth in such a statement.
As has been stated countless times, even if Roe (and Planned Parenthood v Casey) were to be reconsidered and reversed by the Supreme Court, abortion would still be with us. That’s because the decision would go back to the states. The most restrictive state law is a ban on abortion after 20 weeks. Currently, only 17 states have a 20-week ban. Anything less than that, such as the 15-week ban in Mississippi or the 6-week ban in Iowa, has faced a court challenge and has not been put into effect.
Abortion is set to be with us for the foreseeable future, even in a post-Roe world. It has been sewn into the fabric of American society. Even if the matter is left to individual states, moving toward a culture of life where the unborn have more legal protection would take many, many years to achieve.
In the lead-up to Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, the air is thick with panic. Pro-abortion activists are certain that a Kavanaugh court would immediately spell the end for them. They’re convinced, or are at least attempting to persuade others, that women’s freedoms will be severely reduced. Nothing could be further from the truth.
By simply looking at the facts on abortion and women’s healthcare, anyone is able to distinguish the truth from all the fiction. Leftists hope you won’t, though. During a time when we could all use a bit more substance, constant fear is their most powerful weapon.
Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) is contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a senior contributor at RedState.com.
