Elena Kagan’s Pro-Abortion Ties

On a recent media trip, I was asked several times about Elena Kagan and her views on abortion. My response was that Kagan will be a reliable vote for Roe and the pro-abortion position. As with most Supreme Court candidates, groups and individuals are scouring everything she has said or written. A few days ago, I reported a Kagan writing dating back to 1980 in which she referred to “avengers of ‘innocent life.'”

Now comes the following additional information:

• During her tenure with the Clinton administration, LifeNews.com reports that Kagan wrote a memorandum to President Clinton advising him to support a phony partial-birth abortion ban that actually prohibited no abortions. “The Daschle phony ban, which the Reed-Kagan memo endorses, had only one purpose, which was to provide political cover for pro-abortion senators who might otherwise feel compelled to vote to override President Clinton’s veto of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act,” says Douglas Johnson, Legislative Director of National Right to Life. Johnson estimates that this successful ploy helped keep partial-birth abortions legal for six extra years.
• Americans United for Life (AUL) reports that Kagan extensively criticized the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Rust v. Sullivan which upheld regulations that prohibit Title X family planning funds from being “used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning.”
• AUL also reports that Kagan has contributed financially to the National Partnership for Women and Families (NPWF). This organization has as one of its goals “to increase women’s access to…reproductive health services and block attempts to limit reproductive rights..and to give every woman access to…abortion services…” The NPWF has strong ties to Emily’s list which works to elect pro-abortion women to Congress.

Kagan will hide behind the “Roe is settled law” code words and not respond directly to questions from Senators and the media about her position on abortion. We right-to-life organizations know that Kagan will be that reliable vote to keep abortion legal for any reason.

Barbara Lyons