Release: Josh Welle Says SCOTUS Nominee Kavanaugh Would Help Representative Chris Smith Roll Back Women's and LGBT Rights

Statement

Josh Welle, the congressional candidate in New Jersey's 4th District, said that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's record shows he will support the rollback of women's healthcare rights that Representative Chris Smith has sought for decades.

"Brett Kavanaugh is the type of nominee that Chris Smith has been waiting for--one who has supported limiting access to health services and letting employers deny birth control for women," Welle said.

Kavanaugh, a member of the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, was part of a three-judge panel in 2017 that temporarily prevented a pregnant immigrant teen from having access to an abortion in Texas. The full Circuit Court later granted the teenager's right to seek an abortion, with Kavanaugh dissenting. Welle also pointed out that in a separate case, Kavanaugh called for making it easier for employers to deny coverage for contraception to their employees, even though Kavanaugh acknowledged the "compelling" interest in giving women access to birth control.

Based on Kavanaugh's past judicial decisions, Welle said Kavanaugh would actively limit access to health services, including birth control, despite acknowledging that the Supreme Court long ago granted women these rights. These tactics are familiar to Chris Smith, who has strategically attached anti-choice policies to "must pass" legislation. In 2017, Smith sponsored legislation to ban all federal funding for abortion for poor women, except in cases of rape, incest, or endangerment to the life of the mother.

Voters in the Fourth District should not re-elect a member of Congress singularly focused on denying women access to healthcare. Welle argued, "The only thing more dangerous to women's health than Chris Smith, is Chris Smith backed by a Supreme Court ready to do his bidding."

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