Responding to a Politico report that Sen. Dean Heller is predicting Justice Anthony Kennedy’s imminent retirement from the Supreme Court, Rep. Steve King insisted that now is the time for Congress to pass his “heartbeat bill” abortion ban in order to “plan for a #ProLife Supreme Court” that will overturn Roe v. Wade.
King has been feuding with the National Right to Life Committee because it won’t support a vote on his bill to ban abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, which he blames for his party’s leadership not advancing the bill. The NRLC has long clashed with politicians and activists like King over its more incremental approach to banning abortion and its concerns that clearly unconstitutional attacks on Roe could prompt an unfavorable Supreme Court decision.
Today, King tweeted that if the report of Kennedy’s retirement “turns out to be true, it is imperative the House pass the Heartbeat bill,” adding that it is “past time” for the NRLC “to plan for a #ProLife Supreme Court”:
Leaders of the anti-choice movement have been forthright about their hopes that if President Trump names one more Supreme Court justice they may have a shot at overturning Roe. The Susan B. Anthony List’s Marjorie Dannenfelser said last year, “If we can get even one more like Neil Gorsuch, we’re talking about overturning Roe v. Wade.” The National Organization for Marriage’s Brian Brown said that Gorsuch’s confirmation was a step toward overturning Roe and the Obergefell marriage equality decision. Americans United for Life and the Family Research Council have both fundraised off the possibility that another Trump justice could spell the end of Roe. Alliance Defending Freedom is backing a 15-week abortion ban that was recently passed by Mississippi’s Senate in the hopes that it will provoke a successful court challenge to Roe
