Senate Republicans Push Forward on Anti-Reproductive Health Judicial Nominee During Global Health Crisis 

Instead of responding to global crisis, Senate Majority leadership resumes considering judicial nominees, including anti-reproductive health judge Cory Wilson  

WASHINGTON — Today, instead of taking up the latest coronavirus relief bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last week, Senate Republican leadership will hold a hearing on another of Donald Trump’s judicial nominees, Cory Wilson. Nominated to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Wilson voted over and over as a state legislator to take away people’s health and rights, including support of 6- and 15-week abortion bans in Mississippi. He has also written multiple op-eds criticizing the Affordable Care Act — now even more critical during this public health crisis than ever before. 

Statement from Anisha Singh, director, judiciary and democracy affairs, Planned Parenthood Federation of America:

“As a global pandemic continues to reveal gaps in access to care, batter our health systems, threaten people’s lives, and cause skyrocketing unemployment rates, our elected leaders should be working to address these health and economic crises. Instead, Senate Majority leadership is focused on packing the courts with anti-reproductive health care judicial nominees. Cory Wilson’s record demonstrates  consistent hostility toward expanded health access and reproductive health care. A global pandemic is not the time to play political games with people’s lives — or nominate a partisan ideologue to a lifetime position on a federal court. The Senate must halt any votes on Wilson or any other lifetime nominees — they must put the needs of the country first.” 

Additional background on Wilson: 

• Through public comments, social media, and his voting record, Wilson has made clear his extreme bias and ideological beliefs.

• Wilson served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 2016 to 2019 and voted for multiple extreme and harmful abortion bans, including a 15-week ban and even a 6-week ban — before many people even know they are pregnant. 

• Wilson also voted to make it more difficult to access care at Planned Parenthood health centers.

• Wilson supports the “complete and immediate reversal” of Roe v. Wade.

• In 2016, Wilson signed an amicus brief in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt in support of a Texas anti-abortion law, which led to mass closings of facilities that offered abortion services. The Supreme Court went on to find the law unconstitutional.

• Wilson opposes LGBTQ+ rights and wrote in the Press-Register, “gay marriage is a pander to liberal interest groups and an attempt to cast Republicans as intolerant, uncaring and even bigoted.”

• Wilson has recently rejoined the anti-abortion Federalist Society, which has played a critical role in helping the Trump administration pack the federal courts with conservative judges given lifetime appointments.

The Trump administration and Senate Republican leadership continue to use the judicial system as a political tool, with nearly 200 judges appointed. They are filling lifetime appointments with unfit and unqualified people whose records suggest they will not protect individuals against the administration’s attacks on our health and rights. 

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Planned Parenthood is the nation’s leading provider and advocate of high-quality, affordable health care for women, men, and young people, as well as the nation’s largest provider of sex education. With more than 600 health centers across the country, Planned Parenthood organizations serve all patients with care and compassion, with respect and without judgment. Through health centers, programs in schools and communities, and online resources, Planned Parenthood is a trusted source of reliable health information that allows people to make informed health decisions. We do all this because we care passionately about helping people lead healthier lives.