President Barack Obama angered his friends and allies in the pro-abortion community by nominating a federal court judgeship candidate that did some moderately anti-abortion things as a state legislator.
Obama’s nomination of Michael Boggs to the federal district court in Georgia pissed off the pro-abortion advocacy group NARAL Pro-Choice America, which has close ties to Obama.
“Boggs tried to channel state funds to anti-choice crisis pregnancy centers and make a parental consent law even more extreme, in addition to his support for keeping the Confederate battle symbol on the state flag and his vote against marriage equality as a state lawmaker,” NARAL said in a statement.
Boggs, a Democrat, sponsored bills in the Georgia legislature to strengthen the state’s parental consent law for abortions and to create “Choose Life” license plates, the proceeds of which would go to pro-life establishments. Neither bill came to a floor vote.
Obama’s White House picked Boggs in a quick series of nominations in December following a divisive battle with Georgia Republicans who tried to hold up judicial nominees.
“Michael Boggs showed us his true personal agenda as a state lawmaker. Judges hold an incredible responsibility when they take the bench. Americans need to trust them to take an objective view of the law and not use their position to advance their personal agenda. We can’t trust Michael Boggs,” NARAL said in a petition to stop Boggs’ confirmation.
“We’re disappointed that pro-choice President Obama nominated someone who doesn’t share our pro-choice values. We agree with the president on a lot of things, but not this pick,” the NARAL petition said.
“Michael Boggs actually believes that there is one definition of what it means to live your life as an American. The thing is, that’s anti-American. We cannot risk having someone like that on the bench when we know we have so many cases coming down the pike that will define the very fabric of who we are as a nation and we are not only a nation that supports diversity, but we’re actually a pro-choice nation,” NARAL president Ilyse Hogue said in a statement.