NARAL Opposes Confirmation of Anti-Choice Nominees Barry Ashe and Howard Nielson

For Immediate Release: January 10, 2018
Contact: [email protected]

After the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the nomination of two of Donald Trump’s anti-choice judicial nominees, Barry Ashe to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana and Howard Nielson to the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, NARAL Pro-Choice America Senior Vice President Sasha Bruce issued the following statement:

“Together, Ashe and Neilson’s long, anti-choice records prove that Donald Trump is actively stacking the court with dangerous, out-of-touch nominees. If confirmed, these men will imbue our court system with Donald Trump’s anti-choice worldview for generations to come. That’s bad news for women, families, and every American who believes in an independent judiciary that upholds our basic freedoms.”

Ashe served on the board of the Christian Health Ministries Foundation, an anti-choice healthcare cost-sharing organization where abortion, contraceptives, and fertility treatments are ineligible for coverage. In fact, CHM’s anti-choice beliefs are so right-wing that they do not cover the medical expenses for the pregnancies of unmarried mothers.

Nielson filed an amicus brief on behalf of 34 anti-choice senators and 140 anti-choice members of Congress in an attempt to impose burdensome restrictions on abortion providers in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt.¹ To learn more about the nominees’ long, anti-choice records, visit NARAL’s judicial nominees webpage.

¹136 S. Ct. 2292 (2016).

NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates are dedicated to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom for all Americans. NARAL works to guarantee that every woman has the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. In recognition of its work defending our constitutional right to choose, Fortune Magazine described NARAL as “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.”