FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 11, 2020
Contact: Nikki Metzgar, nmetzgar@napawf.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) and 55 other organizations submitted a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee demanding that they oppose the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Hearings on her confirmation will begin on Monday, October 12 despite the news that two senators on the committee tested positive for COVID-19.

The letter outlines her track record of supporting racist abortion bans, undermining abortion access, opposing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), hostility toward LGBTQ communities, and attacking immigrant rights. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in a case that could dismantle the ACA only a week after the election. If Barrett is confirmed and she votes to end the health care law, the uninsured rate for Asian Americans and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders could double.

National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum Executive Director Sung Yeon Choimorrow issued the following statement:

“It’s shameful that President Trump and Senate leadership are choosing to rush Barrett’s confirmation despite the danger now that three Senators have tested positive for COVID-19 and without passing legislation that would provide aid to the millions of people struggling in the pandemic.

We are in the middle of a public health crisis and we don’t have to guess how Barrett would vote on a case that could take away our health care. Her track record shows us who she is and how she will rule from a seat on the Supreme Court. She opposes the Affordable Care Act, which enabled two million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders access to new coverage. She supports sex-selective abortion bans, which subject AAPI women to racial profiling based on false stereotypes.

We need a Supreme Court justice who will protect the rights that we have fought for, especially at a time when the rights and dignity of immigrant communities and communities of color face daily assaults. Amy Coney Barrett has shown us that this she is not that justice.”

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The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) is the only multi-issue, progressive, community organizing and policy advocacy organization for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women and girls in the U.S. NAPAWF’s mission is to build a movement to advance social justice and human rights for AAPI women and girls.