Watch This Federal Judicial Nominee Evade Questions About Whether Planned Parenthood Kills 150,000 Females a Year

She also won’t say if Brown v. Board of Education was decided correctly.

Bill Clark/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Wendy Vitter, Trump’s judicial nominee for a district court in eastern Louisiana, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday morning, moving one step closer to earning a lifetime appointment as a federal judge. As expected (and as I wrote earlier), she faced extensive questions about her record of anti-abortion activism—in particular, about a statement she made at a rally against a Planned Parenthood clinic in 2013: “Planned Parenthood says they promote women’s health,” Vitter said, according to New Orleans’ Clarion Herald. “It is the saddest of ironies that they kill over 150,000 females a year.”

In her hearing this morning, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-C.T.) asked her repeatedly if she stood by that statement. Vitter refused to give a yes-or-no answer: 

NOLA.com / YouTube

Tensions were even higher when Vitter answered questions from Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) about a panel she facilitated in 2013 at a conference hosted by Louisiana Right to Life.  At the panel, Vitter promoted brochures that claimed birth control increases women’s chances of dying a violent death. At the hearing this morning, Vitter downplayed her role, saying she was only encouraging participants to discuss the information in the brochures with “medical professionals.” 

NOLA.com / YouTube

But while Vitter tried to make her actions at the 2013 event sound neutral, that’s not how they seem if you look back at a video from 2013:  

 

As I wrote previously, Vitter failed to disclose this event—as well as an array of speeches and other public statements—in her Senate questionnaire, a form that all nominees submit as part of the confirmation process. 

Beyond her views on abortion, Vitter also caught heat Wednesday for her inability to answer questions from Sen. Blumenthal on whether she believed Brown vs. Board of Education was decided correctly. 


 


 

After today, Vitter’s nomination will be voted on by the Senate Judiciary Committee and then move to the full Senate for a final vote.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate