Kavanaugh
Dear Editor: Despite the beautiful weather, about 40 Sitkans came out to the Mean Queen the evening of Sept. 6 to urge Sen. Lisa Murkowski to vote NO on Judge Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination. Each of us hand-wrote personal letters to Lisa thanking her for consistently standing up for basic human rights and access to health care for all Alaskans, as well as to outline the negative impact a Kavanaugh nomination would have on our personal lives.
As a young woman, access to affordable reproductive health care has been critical throughout my life. During high school, severe menstrual cramps would keep me home sick from class. It wasn’t until my doctor prescribed me birth control pills to regulate my cycle and reduce the pain did I finally feel in control of my body again. Across the country, girls and women are relying on affordable and accessible contraceptives in order to best manage their own health. Kavanaugh’s views on women’s rights to accessible health care is unclear at best, and dangerous at worst, and there is no guarantee that he would support a woman’s freedom to control her own body if given the choice. Senator Murkowski, we are asking you to ensure that the next Supreme Court appointee upholds the rights and freedoms of all citizens. In a state where access to health care is already challenging, Alaskans deserve to know that you will have our backs.
A floor vote on this nominee is expected as early as the week of Sept. 24. I implore all of my neighbors and fellow Alaskans to please call and write Senator Murkowski today to share how you will be personally affected by Judge Kavanaugh and support her in voting NO. Sen. Murkowski has supported access to health care for women and basic rights of a number of minority groups in the past and we need her to do it again by rejecting this SCOTUS nominee.
For Sen. Murkowski’s contact information, go to: https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/contact/office-locations or https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/contact/email.
I hope you’ll join me in exercising our right to be heard by our representatives.
Eleyna Rosenthal, Sitka
