Gillibrand says Roe faces doom with Kavanaugh on Supreme Court

Presidential hopeful Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., warned Wednesday that “radical” Supreme Court Justices like Brett Kavanaugh put abortion rights in grave danger.

“We used to believe in precedent in this country,” Gillibrand said during an appearance on MSNBC. “But under President Trump, he’s trying to upend the entire court system.”

Gillibrand was reacting to news that broke late Tuesday that the Alabama Senate had passed a measure virtually outlawing all abortions within state lines— including in instances of rape or incest.

If the bill were signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, doctors who perform the procedure could be jailed for up to 99 years.

[Opinion: The pro-life cause should and can care about rape victims, too]

Democrats and women’s reproductive rights advocates have been shaken by the news, saying it lays the groundwork for the law to be challenged in the federal courts and eventually end up before the Supreme Court of the United States.

Gillibrand, meanwhile, has singled herself out as the de facto “Me Too” candidate and the 2020 Democratic primary field’s most vocal proponent of women’s issues.

Kavanaugh, who faced intense scrutiny over sexual misconduct allegations during his Senate confirmation hearing, praised Justice William Rehnquist’s dissent in the 1973 law recognizing a woman’s right to choose to terminate a pregnancy.

Another 2020 Democratic primary candidate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., also criticized Kavanaugh for his support of the dissenting opinion on Roe v. Wade.

The country, she argues, believes in a woman’s right to choose.

Supreme Court justices “intend to overturn a decided precedent that the United States and the people of this country support,” Gillibrand said. Citizens “want these intimate decisions — life and death decisions —to be made by the women most impacted.”