In another example of Bush’s court-packing plan, the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on the nomination of anti-abortion lawyer James Leon Holmes to the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas after the spring recess. Together with 14 leading women’s rights, civil rights, and human rights organizations, the Feminist Majority recently sent a letter to US Senators to voice opposition to Holmes. A hard-line anti-abortion activist, Holmes served as president of the Arkansas Right to Life, has worked extensively to overturn Roe v. Wade and has compared pro-choice advocates to Nazis and abortion to slavery.
Holmes has refused to allow exemptions for abortion to victims of rape: “Concern for rape victims is a red herring because conceptions from rape occur with approximately the same frequency as snowfall in Miami,” Holmes once callously stated. In fact, studies show that 25,000 to 32,000 women become pregnant each year in the US as a result of rape.
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