April 11, 2018

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

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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: 

Video


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.” 

Video

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.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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