PPFA Urges Selection of Fair-Minded Nominees

WASHINGTON, DC — On the heels of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's resignation this morning, Planned Parenthood, the nationwide advocate and provider of reproductive health care services is rallying pro-choice activists everywhere and urging President Bush to select nominees who will protect and defend our right to make our own childbearing choices.

President Bush has said he "will select a Supreme Court justice that Americans can be proud of." In response, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) Interim President Karen Pearl issued this statement:

"The country was proud of Justice O'Connor — a discerning, conscientious, and moderate judge. We will be proud of a similarly fair-minded nominee, who will uphold the law of the land and protect women's health and safety as O'Connor did. That is the way to adequately replace a justice of Sandra Day O'Connor's caliber and to make the country proud.

President Bush has said that he will be deliberate and thorough in his duties to nominate a successor to Justice O'Connor. We challenge him to live up to this promise. With the swing vote preserving Roe v. Wade now absent, this is truly an extraordinary moment in our nation's history. We must ensure that the nation proceeds with caution and care when selecting a new justice to the highest court in the land."

According to PPFA Senior Staff Attorney Eve Gartner, who last year successfully argued PPFA's case against the federal abortion ban:

"Justice O'Connor has been a crucial vote on the court for protecting women's reproductive freedom. Most centrally in the 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Justice O'Connor's recognition of the grievous harms that women would face if forced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term led the court to reaffirm Roe v. Wade as the law of the land. There is no doubt that her departure creates the very real likelihood that Roe's promise to women will be severely undermined, if not entirely taken away."