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# CityWatch Today: News Flash (Duh) For Kavanaugh …Contraception Is Not Abortion
September 10 2018
Written by Abby Zimet.
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GUEST COLUMN--In what was [dubbed](https://twitter.com/SenJeffMerkley) a telling "red-alarm moment" in his [turbulent ](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/06/us/politics/kavanaugh-confirmation-hearings.html)confirmation hearings Thursday, increasingly slimy Brett Kavanaugh [dropped ](https://www.thecut.com/2018/09/brett-kavanaugh-hearing-birth-control.html)his fastidious "*Roe v. Wade* is important precedent" mask long enough to conflate birth control - a form of basic health care used by over 95% of women during their lifetimes - with "abortion-inducing drugs," a dog whistle used by extremist ideologues and [blasted ](https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2014/12/contraception-not-abortion-strategic-campaign-antiabortion-groups-persuade-public)by critics as “anti-woman, anti-science propaganda.” With Kavanaugh's [anti-choice views](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/brett-kavanaugh-abortion-view-720086/) already clear, he had till then adopted a strategic [caution, ](https://theslot.jezebel.com/brett-kavanaugh-will-kill-abortion-rights-with-a-smile-1828829832)repeatedly assuring legislators he viewed *Roe v. Wade* as “[important precedent](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/05/supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaugh-says-landmark-abortion-ruling-roe-v-wade-is-important-precedent.html)” and "the [settled ](https://www.commondreams.org/further/2018/09/06/%20%20%20https%3A/www.commondreams.org/news/2018/09/06/fund-unseat-susan-collins-2020-climbs-500000-leaked-doc-offers-new-evidence)law of the land."
"I understand the importance people attach to the *Roe v. Wade decision," he told Diane Feinstein. "I don't live in a bubble." He does, however, live in a cagey house of lies and half-truths. He bickered with her about who "legal scholars" are; belittled women as "passionate," aka "hysterical," about [Roe v. Wade; ](https://twitter.com/hashtag/RoevWade?src=hash)somehow forgot about a 2003 [email](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/06/us/politics/kavanaugh-leaked-documents.html) in which he dismissed the "precedent" of Roe to argue, “Courts can always overrule"; and finally, lamely had to [admit](https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/09/06/unable-come-any-laws-wielding-control-over-mans-body-kavanaugh-dismisses-pro-choice) to the fabulous Kamala Harris *(photo right)* that he drew a blank on laws governing men's bodies.
Kavanaugh's [tap dancing](https://twitter.com/hashtag/StopKavanaugh?src=hash) around the issue came to an abrupt halt when he [tripped ](https://www.thecut.com/2018/09/brett-kavanaugh-hearing-birth-control.html)over a question from Ted Cruz about a case brought by Priests For Life, an (redundancy alert) anti-abortion *and* anti-contraceptive Catholic group that in 2013 filed a lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act's requirement that health care providers cover birth control. The priests argued the rule violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the same argument used in [Hobby Lobby's ](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/30/supreme-court-hobby-lobby_n_5521444.html)successful 2014 lawsuit. The priests' suit was dismissed, but Kavanaugh dissented; this year, the group applauded his nomination "because he sided with us when we had to defend our religious freedom."
Explaining the case to Cruz, he [argued](http://time.com/5389449/brett-kavanaugh-contraception-abortion-inducing-drugs/) the mandate was "a substantial burden on their religious exercise (that) would make them complicit in the abortion-inducing drugs that they were, as a religious matter, objected to (sic)." Except whoah: The case wasn't about abortion; it was about contraceptives, which duh, prevent pregnancy. Furious critics [called](https://twitter.com/search?q=kavanaugh+contraceptives&ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Esearch) his claim "flat-out wrong," "a GROSS misunderstanding of fact," and "an anti-science lie" [proving](https://twitter.com/ericajanes/status/1037771277765894145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1037771277765894145&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fboingboing.net%2F2018%2F09%2F06%2Fbrett-kavanaugh-birth-control.html), again, that, "People who can’t be bothered to learn the basics of how something works should never be allowed to make a decision regarding that something." "Newsflash, Brett Kavanaugh," [railed ](https://twitter.com/SenWarren)Elizabeth Warren. "Contraception is NOT abortion. Anyone who says so is peddling extremist ideology - not science - and has no business sitting on the Supreme Court." If he gets there, [warned](https://twitter.com/NARAL) Dawn Laguens of Planned Parenthood, “Women have every reason to believe their health and their lives are at stake.”
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