Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., on Thursday used an intensifying nationwide debate over abortion rights to slam the Roe v. Wade decision as one of the weakest in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Anybody who knows a law book from a J-Crew catalog knows Roe v. Wade was one of the most poorly reasoned decisions in the history of the United States Supreme Court,” Kennedy said. “It is totally illogical. The analysis makes no sense. So if the Supreme Court wants to revisit it, it’s not gonna bother me one bit.”
Kennedy’s posturing on the 1973 law recognizing a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy is more candid than the stances many Republicans on Capitol Hill with tough reelection battles impending have taken in the wake of Alabama’s new, controversial abortion bill.
“That’s a state issue. I’m focused on my work here,” Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., told The Washington Post.
Now signed into law, the bill virtually outlaws all abortions within state lines, including in instances of rape or incest, and would send doctors who perform the procedure to jail for up to 99 years.
[Opinion: Roe v. Wade is not ‘gone,’ but for the first time in nearly 30 years, its survival is uncertain]
The law’s architects say it was created with the intent of being challenged in the courts and eventually ending up in front of the Supreme Court.
Democrats and women’s rights advocates have expressed fear that a more conservative SCOTUS would overturn Roe v. Wade if given the chance.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, for example, at one time praised the dissenting opinion written by Justice William Rehnquist.
Several Democratic candidates for president have used the Alabama abortion bill to fundraise and further the narrative that Republicans are trying to chip away at the rights of women and minorities.
“Under President Trump, he’s trying to upend the entire court system,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said Wednesday.
Similarly restrictive abortion bills have been passed or are being considered in other states like Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.
In Louisiana, Kennedy’s home state, a so-called heartbeat bill is rapidly making its way through the state legislature. That bill would ban abortion as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, or the moment a fetal heartbeat is detected.
A constitutional lawyer before he ran for public office, Kennedy says he would vote for a bill like the one in Alabama if given the chance but made no prediction as to the fate of abortion rights in America.
“I believe all life is sacred,” he said. “I’m not going to tell the people of Alabama what to do, that’s their business. I don’t know what the Supreme Court will do …”
