Statement from NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

08.21.2019

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Donald Trump’s nomination of anti-abortion lawyer Sarah Pitlyk to a federal judgeship in St. Louis is another brick in his judicial wall around abortion.  He is packing the federal bench with young, ultraconservative zealots who are committed to weakening or reversing abortion rights. 

Sarah Pitlyk is the special counsel to the Thomas More Society, an anti-gay and anti-Muslim group started by Domino’s Pizza founder Thomas Monaghan that is known for bringing an unsuccessful lawsuit against Planned Parenthood to “require it to declare a link between abortion and breast cancer,” and a failed defense of a Pennsylvania school district’s argument that “federal law recommended that students learn alternatives to evolution such as the teaching of intelligent design.” 

Now, Donald Trump wants to elevate that twisted reasoning to the federal bench.  He’s picked not only someone in the mold of Brett Kavanaugh, but an anti-abortion zealot who clerked for Brett Kavanaugh when he was an appeals court judge. 

Sarah Pitlyk will go from being one of the most prominent lawyers in the anti-abortion ranks to one of the most powerful anti-abortion judges in the country if the Senate approves this nomination.  NOW calls on the Senate to reject Sarah Pitlyk and stand up to Donald Trump’s anti-abortion court packing scheme. 

Contact

Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary, press@now.org, 202-570-4745