A trio of vulnerable Senate Republicans are lying to voters about the risk to abortion rights and the Affordable Care Act if Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed to the Supreme Court.
If Coney Barrett is confirmed, her anti-abortion stance as well as her view that the Supreme Court wrongly decided that the ACA was constitutional back in 2012 put the right to an abortion as well as protections for preexisting conditions at risk.
But in a series of debates and tweets, GOP lawmakers downplayed her positions on critical policies.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said in a debate against her Democratic opponent, Theresa Greenfield, that the right to an abortion is not at risk if Coney Barrett is confirmed.
“I think the likelihood of Roe v. Wade being overturned is very minimal,” Ernst said, referring to the landmark case that said the Constitution grants the right to an abortion. “I don’t see that happening.”
However, Coney Barrett is against abortion rights. And Donald Trump said he would only appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade.
Meanwhile, Ernst is one of 200 GOP lawmakers who urged SCOTUS to overturn the landmark abortion case, citing the “unworkability” of the “right to abortion.”
In a Montana Senate debate Monday night, Republican Sen. Steve Daines said Coney Barrett won’t overturn the ACA — better known as Obamacare — even though she criticized the initial 2012 SCOTUS ruling deeming the ACA constitutional.
“The experts are saying it’s highly unlikely they’ll overturn the ACA. That’s the consensus of many legal experts,” said Daines, who supports the GOP lawsuit to nix the ACA.
And John Cornyn of Texas tweeted that Democrats are fear-mongering about the future of the ACA if Coney Barrett is confirmed, even though her stance against the law does put the law at risk.
The GOP senators are running away from Coney Barrett’s views as polls show her positions are unpopular.
A New York Times/Siena College poll released on Sunday found 60% of Americans support the right to an abortion in either all or some cases, and 57% support the ACA.
Even more, the poll found 56% of voters say that the winner of the election should get to appoint the next justice, which Senate Republicans are ignoring to push Coney Barrett through days before the election results are known.
Democrats, for their part, are running ads about how Coney Barrett puts Obamacare at risk as Democrats try to win back control of the Senate.
Democrats need to net three seats to win control of the chamber if Democratic nominee Joe Biden wins the White House, or four seats if Donald Trump wins reelection.
Currently, FiveThirtyEight says Democrats are slight favorites to win control of the Senate.
