Protecting a women’s right to privacy

Regarding Adam Sullivan's Aug. 5 column 'Something missing in Supreme Court fervor” on Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court:

It's interesting that Sullivan argues that there should be closer scrutiny of Judge Kavanaugh's record on government interference in our private lives - because there is nothing more private than a woman's right to control her own body. That Constitutional right was established in Roe v Wade, and it could very well be overturned if Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst vote to put Kavanaugh on the court. Kavanaugh already has shown hostility to privacy rights in his praise of Justice Rehnquist's dissent in Roe, and in his attempt to override the decision of an immigrant woman to get an abortion. A vote for Kavanaugh is a vote to gut Roe, criminalize abortion and punish women.

Abortion rights aren't a ‘wedge issue' - they are fundamental to an individual's ability to control their own body and their own destiny. Iowa's abortion ban recently was struck down as unconstitutional by the courts for that reason.

Grassley and Ernst should respect the privacy rights of Iowans - the right not to have government interfere in the personal, private decisions of individuals - by opposing Judge Kavanaugh's nomination.

Kate Revaux

Iowa City