"In the prior confirmation, I was concerned that she was outside the mainstream," Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told reporters recently about Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Less than a year ago, Romney – along with all but three of his fellow GOP senators – voted "nay" when Jackson was confirmed for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on a 53-44 vote.
"[But] as a result of our meeting for an hour together and reviewing her testimony before Congress, I became convinced that she's within the mainstream," Romney then added.
Kristi Hamrick of Students for Life of America says there's nothing mainstream about Jackson's views on abortion.
"Ketanji Brown Jackson has defended partial-birth abortion," Hamrick tells AFN. "Partial-birth abortion is a horrific procedure that she actually said at the Supreme Court level, when she was there as a clerk, was acceptable."
Hamrick adds that Jackson worked as a private attorney to suppress the free speech of pro-lifers who were trying to pray and offer sidewalk counseling near an abortion provider.
"She has ruled against the Trump administration when they were trying to get some funds away from abortion-related programming," Hamrick adds. "It's highly offensive that Senator Romney thinks that partial-birth abortion and suppressed free speech are mainstream.
"That just goes to show how out of step he is – and frankly [it shows] how little attention he's paid to this very radical activist nominee."
Romney is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). The LDS Church statement on abortion says the church "believes in the sanctity of human life. Therefore, the Church opposes elective abortion for personal or social convenience, and counsels its members not to submit to, perform, encourage, pay for, or arrange for such abortions."
Jackson's confirmation to the high court is virtually assured now that two other GOP senators have joined Romney in announcing their support for Judge Jackson. Those two lawmakers – Senators Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) – also voted in favor of Jackson last June.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who like Murkowski and Collins voted last summer to confirm the judge to the D.C. Circuit Court, has made it clear he intends to vote against Jackson's appointment to the Supreme Court.
