Women dressed as handmaids from the TV series and Margaret Atwood novel "The Handmaid's Tale" greeted Judge Brett Kavanaugh at his confirmation hearing to be named the next U.S. Supreme Court justice. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty)
Sep 04, 2018
As the Senate Judiciary Committee proceeded with its confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Tuesday--whose appointment Planned Parenthood has said "would determine the health and freedom of countless women's lives"-- it was women both inside and outside the hearing who led the charge against Kavanaugh's ascension to the highest court in the land.
\u201cI'm doing this for my daughters, for all of our daughters, for all of us. Since day 1 of this administration my sisters and I have been resisting. Who's with me and ready to disobey? #CancelKavanaugh #BrettBye @womensmarch @shaunking @lsarsour @TamikaDMallory @msladyjustice1\u201d— Bob Bland (she/her) (@Bob Bland (she/her)) 1536075879
NARAL Pro-Choice America shared that its Missouri and Washington chapters' executive directors, Alison Dreith and Tiffany Hankins, were among the more than 30 protesters who were arrested for demonstrating inside the hearing room.
\u201c.@ProChoiceWA Executive Director @tiffanykins has now also been arrested for exercising her right to free speech & fighting to #StopKavanaugh. We stand with the men and women putting their bodies on the line for our right to choose when, if, and how to start or grow our families!\u201d— NARAL (@NARAL) 1536087294
\u201c.@NARALMissouri Executive Director @alidreith was arrested today while exercising her right to free speech to #StopKavanaugh. We proudly stand with her, and we will NOT back down!\u201d— NARAL (@NARAL) 1536081809
Bystanders and media outlets shared videos of the women being led away from the hearing in makeshift handcuffs.
\u201cProtesters being taken out of the Kavanaugh hearing in makeshift cuffs\u201d— Alexandra Limon (@Alexandra Limon) 1536073377
Several women, including Women's March leader Linda Sarsour and actress and activist Piper Perabo, were filmed being physically dragged out of the room by Capitol Police, yelling, "Adjourn the hearing!" and "Please vote no!"
\u201cI was just arrested for civil disobedience in the Kavanaugh hearings.\n\nMany citizens before me have fought for the equal rights of women. I can\u2019t be silent when someone is nominated to the Supreme Court who would take our equal rights away.\n\n#StopKavanagh\nhttps://t.co/f3SG7gmVam\u201d— Piper Perabo (@Piper Perabo) 1536083379
"I don't want my daughters to have less rights than I do in 2018, so I came to put my body on the line," Sarsour toldRewire News after her arrest.
Before being taken away from the hearing room, Shaunna Thomas, executive director of the women's advocacy group UltraViolet, told the committee, "Senators, on behalf of the millions of women across the country whose rights will be stripped by a Kavanaugh court, I demand you reject this nomination."
Kavanaugh is widely seen as the key to completing Trump's campaign pledge to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 decision which affirmed that American women have the right to abortion care. While running for president in 2016, Trump told Fox News that if he won, the reversal of the decision would "happen automatically in my opinion because I am putting pro-life justices on the court."
Last year, Kavanaugh praised former Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist's dissent in the Roe case and as a sitting federal judge ruled against a young immigrant held in U.S. custody who wanted to obtain an abortion, delaying her care.
\u201cDon't be fooled by Brett Kavanaugh's responses during his hearing. We already know what he thinks about abortion. #StopKavanaugh\u201d— Planned Parenthood Action (@Planned Parenthood Action) 1536017400
As the hearing began, a week-long ad campaign sponsored by UltraViolet got underway throughout the nation's capitol, with signs proclaiming, "Roe v. Wade is more popular than Brett Kavanaugh."
\u201cAlso in front of the Hart Senate Office Bldg. for the Kavanaugh hearings some handy polling. \ud83e\udd14 @UltraViolet\u201d— Jos\u00e9 Moreno (@Jos\u00e9 Moreno) 1536062934
Recent polls show 71 percent of Americans believe Roe vs. Wade should not be overturned, while only 37 percent support Kavanaugh's confirmation--making him an historically unpopular nominee.
Outside the hearing room at the Hart Senate Office Building, hundreds of women representing the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and other national groups wore shirts reading "I am what's at stake" linked arms to express solidarity against Kavanaugh's nomination.
\u201cHundreds of women lined the Hart Senate Atrium to hold a vigil for #WhatsAtStake. Together, we will #StopKavanaugh @PPact @NARAL @ReproRights @nwlc @APALAnational @TheTaskForce @TransEquality\u201d— NAPAWF (@NAPAWF) 1536079819
Also outside the hearing room, several women assembled to greet Kavanaugh, dressed as the handmaids from the TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale."
\u201cProtesters with Demand Justice dressed as handmaids stand outside Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing room. They are protesting his views on abortion. #SCOTUSKavanaugh\u201d— Lydia Wheeler (@Lydia Wheeler) 1536066055
Despite their own party's successful delay of the Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Judge Merrick Garland, who was nominated by President Barack Obama, Republicans scoffed at Democrats' and protesters' objections to the hearing, with Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) employing predictably misogynist language to chastise the demonstrators' for their so-called "hysteria."
\u201cSasses says it's a 30 year tradition to have "screaming protests saying women are going to die...Where is the hysteria coming from?" (He says hysteria three times.)\u201d— Irin Carmon (@Irin Carmon) 1536082935
\u201cwomen who live in states without affordable access do die though. MORE will die if we don't #StopKavanaugh \n\nSaying hysteria isn't an accident it's to make it seem like women WHO WILL BE THE ONES DYING are overreacting. \n\nWe aren't.\u201d— Zerlina Maxwell (@Zerlina Maxwell) 1536083061
Sasse's dismissal did not succeed in sidelining the protesters, however. As the hearing continued, a photo of woman-led grassroots group Code Pink's national director, Ariel Elyse Gold, prominently displaying her protest sign before her arrest was at the top of the New York Times' website--making clear that the demonstrations had made a national impact.
\u201cWe are front page of the NY Times today. Our national director @ArielElyseGold stood up in the #KavanaughConfirmation. Our future depends on our activism \u262e\ufe0f\u201d— CODEPINK (@CODEPINK) 1536087498
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ben sassebrett kavanaughcodepinknaralpeople powerreproductive rightsroe v. wadeultravioletus senateus supreme courtwomenwomens march
As the Senate Judiciary Committee proceeded with its confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Tuesday--whose appointment Planned Parenthood has said "would determine the health and freedom of countless women's lives"-- it was women both inside and outside the hearing who led the charge against Kavanaugh's ascension to the highest court in the land.
\u201cI'm doing this for my daughters, for all of our daughters, for all of us. Since day 1 of this administration my sisters and I have been resisting. Who's with me and ready to disobey? #CancelKavanaugh #BrettBye @womensmarch @shaunking @lsarsour @TamikaDMallory @msladyjustice1\u201d— Bob Bland (she/her) (@Bob Bland (she/her)) 1536075879
NARAL Pro-Choice America shared that its Missouri and Washington chapters' executive directors, Alison Dreith and Tiffany Hankins, were among the more than 30 protesters who were arrested for demonstrating inside the hearing room.
\u201c.@ProChoiceWA Executive Director @tiffanykins has now also been arrested for exercising her right to free speech & fighting to #StopKavanaugh. We stand with the men and women putting their bodies on the line for our right to choose when, if, and how to start or grow our families!\u201d— NARAL (@NARAL) 1536087294
\u201c.@NARALMissouri Executive Director @alidreith was arrested today while exercising her right to free speech to #StopKavanaugh. We proudly stand with her, and we will NOT back down!\u201d— NARAL (@NARAL) 1536081809
Bystanders and media outlets shared videos of the women being led away from the hearing in makeshift handcuffs.
\u201cProtesters being taken out of the Kavanaugh hearing in makeshift cuffs\u201d— Alexandra Limon (@Alexandra Limon) 1536073377
Several women, including Women's March leader Linda Sarsour and actress and activist Piper Perabo, were filmed being physically dragged out of the room by Capitol Police, yelling, "Adjourn the hearing!" and "Please vote no!"
\u201cI was just arrested for civil disobedience in the Kavanaugh hearings.\n\nMany citizens before me have fought for the equal rights of women. I can\u2019t be silent when someone is nominated to the Supreme Court who would take our equal rights away.\n\n#StopKavanagh\nhttps://t.co/f3SG7gmVam\u201d— Piper Perabo (@Piper Perabo) 1536083379
"I don't want my daughters to have less rights than I do in 2018, so I came to put my body on the line," Sarsour toldRewire News after her arrest.
Before being taken away from the hearing room, Shaunna Thomas, executive director of the women's advocacy group UltraViolet, told the committee, "Senators, on behalf of the millions of women across the country whose rights will be stripped by a Kavanaugh court, I demand you reject this nomination."
Kavanaugh is widely seen as the key to completing Trump's campaign pledge to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 decision which affirmed that American women have the right to abortion care. While running for president in 2016, Trump told Fox News that if he won, the reversal of the decision would "happen automatically in my opinion because I am putting pro-life justices on the court."
Last year, Kavanaugh praised former Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist's dissent in the Roe case and as a sitting federal judge ruled against a young immigrant held in U.S. custody who wanted to obtain an abortion, delaying her care.
\u201cDon't be fooled by Brett Kavanaugh's responses during his hearing. We already know what he thinks about abortion. #StopKavanaugh\u201d— Planned Parenthood Action (@Planned Parenthood Action) 1536017400
As the hearing began, a week-long ad campaign sponsored by UltraViolet got underway throughout the nation's capitol, with signs proclaiming, "Roe v. Wade is more popular than Brett Kavanaugh."
\u201cAlso in front of the Hart Senate Office Bldg. for the Kavanaugh hearings some handy polling. \ud83e\udd14 @UltraViolet\u201d— Jos\u00e9 Moreno (@Jos\u00e9 Moreno) 1536062934
Recent polls show 71 percent of Americans believe Roe vs. Wade should not be overturned, while only 37 percent support Kavanaugh's confirmation--making him an historically unpopular nominee.
Outside the hearing room at the Hart Senate Office Building, hundreds of women representing the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and other national groups wore shirts reading "I am what's at stake" linked arms to express solidarity against Kavanaugh's nomination.
\u201cHundreds of women lined the Hart Senate Atrium to hold a vigil for #WhatsAtStake. Together, we will #StopKavanaugh @PPact @NARAL @ReproRights @nwlc @APALAnational @TheTaskForce @TransEquality\u201d— NAPAWF (@NAPAWF) 1536079819
Also outside the hearing room, several women assembled to greet Kavanaugh, dressed as the handmaids from the TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale."
\u201cProtesters with Demand Justice dressed as handmaids stand outside Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing room. They are protesting his views on abortion. #SCOTUSKavanaugh\u201d— Lydia Wheeler (@Lydia Wheeler) 1536066055
Despite their own party's successful delay of the Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Judge Merrick Garland, who was nominated by President Barack Obama, Republicans scoffed at Democrats' and protesters' objections to the hearing, with Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) employing predictably misogynist language to chastise the demonstrators' for their so-called "hysteria."
\u201cSasses says it's a 30 year tradition to have "screaming protests saying women are going to die...Where is the hysteria coming from?" (He says hysteria three times.)\u201d— Irin Carmon (@Irin Carmon) 1536082935
\u201cwomen who live in states without affordable access do die though. MORE will die if we don't #StopKavanaugh \n\nSaying hysteria isn't an accident it's to make it seem like women WHO WILL BE THE ONES DYING are overreacting. \n\nWe aren't.\u201d— Zerlina Maxwell (@Zerlina Maxwell) 1536083061
Sasse's dismissal did not succeed in sidelining the protesters, however. As the hearing continued, a photo of woman-led grassroots group Code Pink's national director, Ariel Elyse Gold, prominently displaying her protest sign before her arrest was at the top of the New York Times' website--making clear that the demonstrations had made a national impact.
\u201cWe are front page of the NY Times today. Our national director @ArielElyseGold stood up in the #KavanaughConfirmation. Our future depends on our activism \u262e\ufe0f\u201d— CODEPINK (@CODEPINK) 1536087498
As the Senate Judiciary Committee proceeded with its confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Tuesday--whose appointment Planned Parenthood has said "would determine the health and freedom of countless women's lives"-- it was women both inside and outside the hearing who led the charge against Kavanaugh's ascension to the highest court in the land.
\u201cI'm doing this for my daughters, for all of our daughters, for all of us. Since day 1 of this administration my sisters and I have been resisting. Who's with me and ready to disobey? #CancelKavanaugh #BrettBye @womensmarch @shaunking @lsarsour @TamikaDMallory @msladyjustice1\u201d— Bob Bland (she/her) (@Bob Bland (she/her)) 1536075879
NARAL Pro-Choice America shared that its Missouri and Washington chapters' executive directors, Alison Dreith and Tiffany Hankins, were among the more than 30 protesters who were arrested for demonstrating inside the hearing room.
\u201c.@ProChoiceWA Executive Director @tiffanykins has now also been arrested for exercising her right to free speech & fighting to #StopKavanaugh. We stand with the men and women putting their bodies on the line for our right to choose when, if, and how to start or grow our families!\u201d— NARAL (@NARAL) 1536087294
\u201c.@NARALMissouri Executive Director @alidreith was arrested today while exercising her right to free speech to #StopKavanaugh. We proudly stand with her, and we will NOT back down!\u201d— NARAL (@NARAL) 1536081809
Bystanders and media outlets shared videos of the women being led away from the hearing in makeshift handcuffs.
\u201cProtesters being taken out of the Kavanaugh hearing in makeshift cuffs\u201d— Alexandra Limon (@Alexandra Limon) 1536073377
Several women, including Women's March leader Linda Sarsour and actress and activist Piper Perabo, were filmed being physically dragged out of the room by Capitol Police, yelling, "Adjourn the hearing!" and "Please vote no!"
\u201cI was just arrested for civil disobedience in the Kavanaugh hearings.\n\nMany citizens before me have fought for the equal rights of women. I can\u2019t be silent when someone is nominated to the Supreme Court who would take our equal rights away.\n\n#StopKavanagh\nhttps://t.co/f3SG7gmVam\u201d— Piper Perabo (@Piper Perabo) 1536083379
"I don't want my daughters to have less rights than I do in 2018, so I came to put my body on the line," Sarsour toldRewire News after her arrest.
Before being taken away from the hearing room, Shaunna Thomas, executive director of the women's advocacy group UltraViolet, told the committee, "Senators, on behalf of the millions of women across the country whose rights will be stripped by a Kavanaugh court, I demand you reject this nomination."
Kavanaugh is widely seen as the key to completing Trump's campaign pledge to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 decision which affirmed that American women have the right to abortion care. While running for president in 2016, Trump told Fox News that if he won, the reversal of the decision would "happen automatically in my opinion because I am putting pro-life justices on the court."
Last year, Kavanaugh praised former Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist's dissent in the Roe case and as a sitting federal judge ruled against a young immigrant held in U.S. custody who wanted to obtain an abortion, delaying her care.
\u201cDon't be fooled by Brett Kavanaugh's responses during his hearing. We already know what he thinks about abortion. #StopKavanaugh\u201d— Planned Parenthood Action (@Planned Parenthood Action) 1536017400
As the hearing began, a week-long ad campaign sponsored by UltraViolet got underway throughout the nation's capitol, with signs proclaiming, "Roe v. Wade is more popular than Brett Kavanaugh."
\u201cAlso in front of the Hart Senate Office Bldg. for the Kavanaugh hearings some handy polling. \ud83e\udd14 @UltraViolet\u201d— Jos\u00e9 Moreno (@Jos\u00e9 Moreno) 1536062934
Recent polls show 71 percent of Americans believe Roe vs. Wade should not be overturned, while only 37 percent support Kavanaugh's confirmation--making him an historically unpopular nominee.
Outside the hearing room at the Hart Senate Office Building, hundreds of women representing the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and other national groups wore shirts reading "I am what's at stake" linked arms to express solidarity against Kavanaugh's nomination.
\u201cHundreds of women lined the Hart Senate Atrium to hold a vigil for #WhatsAtStake. Together, we will #StopKavanaugh @PPact @NARAL @ReproRights @nwlc @APALAnational @TheTaskForce @TransEquality\u201d— NAPAWF (@NAPAWF) 1536079819
Also outside the hearing room, several women assembled to greet Kavanaugh, dressed as the handmaids from the TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale."
\u201cProtesters with Demand Justice dressed as handmaids stand outside Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing room. They are protesting his views on abortion. #SCOTUSKavanaugh\u201d— Lydia Wheeler (@Lydia Wheeler) 1536066055
Despite their own party's successful delay of the Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Judge Merrick Garland, who was nominated by President Barack Obama, Republicans scoffed at Democrats' and protesters' objections to the hearing, with Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) employing predictably misogynist language to chastise the demonstrators' for their so-called "hysteria."
\u201cSasses says it's a 30 year tradition to have "screaming protests saying women are going to die...Where is the hysteria coming from?" (He says hysteria three times.)\u201d— Irin Carmon (@Irin Carmon) 1536082935
\u201cwomen who live in states without affordable access do die though. MORE will die if we don't #StopKavanaugh \n\nSaying hysteria isn't an accident it's to make it seem like women WHO WILL BE THE ONES DYING are overreacting. \n\nWe aren't.\u201d— Zerlina Maxwell (@Zerlina Maxwell) 1536083061
Sasse's dismissal did not succeed in sidelining the protesters, however. As the hearing continued, a photo of woman-led grassroots group Code Pink's national director, Ariel Elyse Gold, prominently displaying her protest sign before her arrest was at the top of the New York Times' website--making clear that the demonstrations had made a national impact.
\u201cWe are front page of the NY Times today. Our national director @ArielElyseGold stood up in the #KavanaughConfirmation. Our future depends on our activism \u262e\ufe0f\u201d— CODEPINK (@CODEPINK) 1536087498
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