Brett Kavanaugh on Abortion

See if anti-abortion rules are burdensome before banning

It was the Supreme Court's first significant action on abortion for Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh voted with the conservatives--Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch. Kavanaugh filed a dissent, writing only for himself. He said he would have allowed the law to take effect in order to see whether it would impose a burden on women's access to abortion in the state.

Kavanaugh said that because Louisiana promised to put the law into effect gradually, he would have waited to see how many doctors were able to get hospital admitting privileges. So far, he said, the two sides in the case have offered only "competing predictions" about its effect.

Roe is an important precedent, but stricter regulations ok

Overall, his testimony reinforced his past writings suggesting he would permit the government to more strictly regulate abortion, for example, with additional requirements that could delay the procedure or stiffer rules for physicians who would perform it.

Trump has long vowed to appoint justices who would reverse Roe and allow the states to determine whether abortion should be legal. Kennedy had been a swing vote in favor of abortion rights.

Disallow 17-year-old illegal immigrant to seek abortion

Last fall the appeals court voted to allow an undocumented pregnant 17 year-old in immigration detention to seek an abortion without delay. Judge Kavanaugh dissented. He wrote that while the appeals court was bound to obey Supreme Court rulings, those precedents left room for the government to apply "reasonable regulations that do not impose an undue burden."