Planned Parenthood: ‘The fate of our rights’ depends on Ginsburg replacement

Planned Parenthood sounded the alarm Friday night after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, noting that abortion rights could be decided on the high court based on her replacement.

“Tonight we honor that legacy, but tomorrow, we’re going to need to get to work to preserve the ideals she spent her life’s work defending. Because this is not an understatement: The fate of our rights, our freedoms, our health care, our bodies, our lives, and our country depend on what happens over the coming months,” Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson said in a statement.

McGill said the Senate should not consider a replacement for Ginsburg in an election year, indicating that a potential pick from President Trump would likely be opposed to the same abortion rights that Ginsburg championed on the high court.

“To be very clear, it would be an absolute slap in the face to the millions of Americans who honor and cherish Justice Ginsburg’s legacy if President Trump and Mitch McConnell were to replace her with someone who would undo her life’s work and take away the rights and freedoms for which she fought so hard,” she said.

“On behalf of Planned Parenthood’s 16 million supporters and people across the country whose lives and rights would be in jeopardy if President Trump was able to confirm another nominee to the highest court in the land, we vow to honor the legacy of Justice Ginsburg and approach the coming months like the future of our country depends on it — because it absolutely does.”

Ginsburg died Friday due to complications of metastatic pancreas cancer at the age of 87. Just the second woman to be nominated to the high court, she served on the Supreme Court for more than 27 years.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Friday the Senate will consider a potential nominee from Trump, with Democrats crying foul after the GOP blocked President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, from receiving a confirmation hearing after Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in 2016.

During her time in the Supreme Court, Ginsburg was a fierce advocate for gender equality and a staunch supporter for abortion access.