Amy Coney Barrett says 'of course' she's open to banning abortion

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett said on Tuesday that she would consider ruling on abortion bans, even though the reasoning underlying the bans is based on junk science.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) asked Barrett if she would “listen to both sides” in a hypothetical case to ban certain abortions, which Graham termed as involving a “child” that’s “capable of feeling pain.”

“Of course,” Barrett replied.

The legislation calls for bans on abortion at 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the claim that fetuses can feel pain then. But the best available science shows that this is completely unproven and has been described as “junk science.”

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said the claim of fetal pain is not backed up by science.

“The science shows that based on gestational age, the fetus is not capable of feeling pain until the third trimester,” ACOG spokesperson Kate Connors told LiveScience.

Barrett has a record of opposing reproductive rights, which the Trump administration and the Republican Party have attempted to curtail.

From an Oct. 13 hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee:

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: Unlike Brown, there are states challenging on the abortion front, they’re states that are going to a fetal heartbeat bill.

 

I have a bill, Judge, that would disallow abortion on demand at the twenty weeks, the fifth month of the pregnancy. We’re one of seven nations in the entire world that allow abortion on demand at the fifth month.

 

The construct for my bill is because a child is capable of feeling pain in the fifth month, doctors tell us to save the child’s life you have to provide anesthesia if you operate, because they can feel pain.

 

The argument I’m making is if you have to provide anesthesia to save the child’s life, because they can feel pain, it must be a terrible death to be dismembered by an abortion.

 

That’s a theory to protect the unborn at the fifth month. If that litigation comes before you, will you listen to both sides?

 

AMY CONEY BARRETT: Of course. I will do that in every case.

 

GRAHAM: So, I think fourteen states have already passed a version of what I’ve just described. So there really is a debate in America still, unlike Brown vs. Board of Education, about the rights of the unborn.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.