Collins: Gorsuch, Kavanaugh votes to overturn Roe "inconsistent" with past statements

Republican Sen. Susan Collins said on Friday that the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is "inconsistent" with what Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh said during their Senate confirmation hearings.

Driving the news: Collins, one of the few Republicans who support abortion rights, said Gorsuch and Kavanaugh were both "insistent on the importance of supporting long-standing precedents that the country has relied upon" in their testimony and meetings with her.

What she's saying: “The threshold question of whether abortion is legal needs to be consistent at a national level," Collins said in a statement after the Supreme Court ruling was released Friday. "States can account for regional differences with regulations like parental notification requirements, but the basic right needs to be the same for all American women."

• “The Supreme Court has abandoned a fifty-year precedent at a time that the country is desperate for stability," she said. "This ill-considered action will further divide the country at a moment when, more than ever in modern times, we need the Court to show both consistency and restraint."
• Collins added: "Throwing out a precedent overnight that the country has relied upon for half a century is not conservative. It is a sudden and radical jolt to the country that will lead to political chaos, anger, and a further loss of confidence in our government."

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