Sen. Mitt Romney and Sen. Mike Lee have chosen partisan politics over the health and welfare of their constituents in Utah. Instead of providing COVID-19 relief, something that three out of four Americans want the Senate to prioritize, our Utah senators joined their Republican colleagues in a rushed and hypocritical lifetime appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, even with the election underway and more than half a million ballots already cast in Utah.
With an uncontrolled pandemic that is making more and more Utahns sick, straining our health care system, and ravaging our economy, our senators have made their priorities clear: ramming through this nominee is more important than the health and economic security of Utah. Their lack of regard for us became even more clear when the Senate adjourned immediately after the confirmation without passing COVID relief. They should be ashamed.
Barrett poses a direct threat to our reproductive health and rights, the Affordable Care Act, LGBTQ+ rights and so much more. Her confirmation to the Supreme Court, and her views on access to essential health care, are not only gravely out of touch with the American public, but particularly dangerous while the country is in the middle of multiple public health crises.
President Donald Trump made it clear that he would only appoint justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade and strike down the ACA. Barrett’s record makes it clear why Trump believes she passes his litmus test. On an anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, she signed a full two-page newspaper ad opposing abortion, which referred to Roe v. Wade’s legacy as “barbaric.”
Then, during her confirmation hearing, Barrett said that Roe v. Wade, which has been law for more than 45 years, is not “super-precedent” because it is not “well settled” — making it clear that, in her legal opinion, Roe can be reconsidered.
These are not abstract threats — with the passage of a trigger ban during Utah’s 2020 legislative session, nearly all abortions will be illegal in Utah if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
Access to abortion is hanging by a thread here in Utah and across the country, and for too many people —specifically Black and brown communities forced to navigate a legacy of systemic racism and discriminatory policies — the promise of Roe is already meaningless because abortion is inaccessible.
It’s not only reproductive health care that is at risk. Just a week after Election Day, the Supreme Court will hear a case on the Trump-supported lawsuit to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Given Barrett’s record of criticizing the 2012 Supreme Court decision that upheld the Affordable Care Act and the ACA’s no-copay birth control coverage, Barrett’s addition to the court puts health coverage and care in jeopardy for tens of millions of people across the country and for the 1.2 million Utahns with pre-existing conditions.
This is especially heinous when COVID-19 cases are surging and disproportionately impacting communities of color and low-income Americans – those who already face centuries of systemic health and economic inequities.
Sens. Romney and Lee may not be on the ballot this year, but let’s not forget this moment. We must hold them accountable. We must vote for candidates now who will fight for our health care and right to control our lives.
Karrie Galloway is the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Council of Utah. She lives in Salt Lake City.
