Kavanaugh’s Yale classmates protest his position on abortion
NEW HAVEN — It was a time of renewed friendships and welcoming, but not for one alum from Yale's undergraduate class of 1987 — Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Classmates did not see him in person, but they sent a loud message nonetheless to Kavanaugh, who is expected to be the swing vote in a ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization this month. That ruling could end constitutional protection for abortion which has been in place under Roe v. Wade since 1973.
“He can hear us from down in Chevy Chase, Maryland and we will make some noise in New Haven,” said organizer and alumna Kathy Charlton at a rally for reproductive rights held Saturday in front of the Maya Lin Women's Table on Yale's Cross Campus. A crowd of around 300 encircled the sculpture, spilling onto the steps of the Sterling Memorial Library, holding signs with the same theme. Alumni from the six other Yale classes holding reunions on campus were among the crowd.
“Brett Lied Again. Get off the Court Kavanaugh,” one of them read. “My Choice: Impeach Brett,” read another.
Kavanaugh is one of four justices who signed onto a draft by Justice Samuel Alito that would overturn Roe and return decisions on abortion to the states. If this happens, it is estimated that 26 states are certain or likely to prohibit abortions.
Draft decision shows court’s possible action
Carrie N. Baker, a professor at Smith College, a lawyer and contributing editor at Ms. Magazine, as well as a former classmate of Kavanaugh, called the draft decision “appalling, but it is one that tells the American people what the court will do in the future.”
“It is an extreme decision that basically makes the Constitution irrelevant for many of the rights that we count on,” Baker said.
She predicted the court will “deep-six affirmative action” and go after the right to contraception as first outlined in the 1965 case, Griswold v. Connecticut, decided under the rubric of privacy.
Rights enshrined under privacy “pulled the cops out of our bedrooms. Pulled the politicians from rifling through our underwear draws and that is going away,” Baker predicted.
She said the draft argues that the only protected rights are those explicitly stated in the Constitution — rights determined by “slave-holders and property-holding white men” who “weren't thinking about abortion.” It also refers to rights that have a long standing protection in U.S. history and tradition.
She said there is nothing in the opinion about rape or incest or other exceptions.
Baker said Alito used the term “unborn child” repeatedly throughout the decision, leading her to think Connecticut's abortion protective laws could be challenged next as violating an unborn child's rights that could lead to the end of abortion in all 50 states.
A college connection
While Kavanaugh, with his connection to the Yale Class of 1987 was the focus, Baker pointed out that of the five votes expected to overturn Roe v. Wade, Alito and Clarence Thomas also have Yale connections.
“What the hell are we doing here? How are we producing people that think that they can take our rights away like this — long standing constitutional rights?” she said to cheers.
Baker said she knew Kavanaugh as an undergraduate and the idea that he's prepared to take away people's rights is “appalling.”
“We need to hold him accountable,” she said.
“the idea that he is prepared to take my rights away and the rights of our daughters and our sons and other people is appalling to me. We need to hold him accountable."
Baker, who chairs American Studies at Smith College, said one in five female students experience sexual assault
while in college.
“I think sexual assault and abortion bans are two sides of the same coin,” Baker said. “It is about taking away women's bodily autonomy. They are both a form of violence against women.”
Charlton said she felt she had to speak up so her two teenage girls "will have the same access to healthcare and the ability to make their own decisions across the arc of their lives," that she had.
Access to abortion
Beth Parker, class of 1977 and general counsel at Planned Parenthood California Central Coast, said without Roe 36 million pregnant people will no longer be able to easily access abortion.
She said they will have to find a provider, locate transportation, travel hundreds of miles and incur “huge expenses” to cross borders to access the services. Parker also worries about those states that will criminalize crossing state lines and prosecute those aiding and abetting an abortion.
“These laws will have a devastating impact on lowincome
women, people of color, immigrants and those who our healthcare system otherwise fails,” Parker said. She told the alumnae in front of her that they were more likely to have the means to continue to access an abortion.
Parker said with Roe, women in her graduating class were able to become full participants in society.
“We had autonomy over our lives,” she said. “We could decide if, when and how many children to have. We can take full advantage of the educational and employment opportunities open to us.”
“When Roe is reversed, which is widely expected, all of these advances will evaporate,” Parker added.
She shared real stories Planned Parenthood has experienced. She said under Roe the organization did not have to ask a pregnant woman to forego chemotherapy in favor of a nascent pregnancy; maintain a pregnancy after contraception fails; force a patient with a fatal abnormality to deliver a dead baby; nor allow a 13-year-old rape victim to carry a child to term.