My name is Sanjeev Sriram and I’m a pediatrician in southeast Washington DC. My patients have a range of pre-existing conditions: asthma, cerebral palsy, cancer, autism, diabetes, seizures, learning disabilities, birth defects, organ transplants, and a range of mental illnesses, just to name a few. My patients, their parents, our nurses, therapists, and doctors have not worked our asses off to give kids with pre-existing conditions better lives just to have Brett Kavanaugh and his Republican friends take it all away. The ACA’s protections for patients with pre-existing conditions is not a political football to score points on Fox News. These are rules of law that stop insurance companies from dumping patients to illness and financial ruin. People die when they are stuck with the false choice of taking care of their health or protecting their wealth. My patients deserve a better Supreme Court Justice than Brett Kavanaugh.
Many women have spoken loud and clear about the importance of building, not demolishing, reproductive health in America. We should listen to them. Many have demanded that reproductive health decisions should only be made by women and their doctors. As a doctor, I not only agree, but I want to tell Americans 3 principles that guide me through those conversations:
- Abortion is health care.
- The technical advice coming out of my mouth should only be based on scientific evidence, not misogynist ideology parading as “religious liberty.”
- Most importantly, I listen to women!
Brett Kavanaugh wants to outlaw abortion in America. As a doctor, I can tell you that making abortion illegal does not stop women from getting abortions. My patients will seek risky, dangerous abortions in basements and back alleys. The misogynist ideology of Brett Kavanaugh and his Republican friends will kill women.
To our Senators, listen to women! Listen to Black women. Listen to Brown women. Listen to trans women. If and when we really listen to women, we not only cancel Kavanaugh, we cancel the Hyde Amendment. When we listen to women, we not only cancel Kavanaugh, we impeach Clarence Thomas. If Harvey Weinstein doesn’t get to make movies any more, then Clarence Thomas should not get to make decisions on America’s laws any more. When we listen to women, we not only cancel Kavanaugh, we impeach the Pimento Pervert in the White House!
My patients in southeast Washington DC and Prince Georges County, Maryland are like millions of children struggling to survive against gun violence. Brett Kavanaugh is the NRA’s pick for the Supreme Court. Yesterday he turned his back on a father whose daughter was killed in the Parkland school shooting. Republicans have figuratively turned their backs on families struggling with gun violence, but Brett Kavanaugh literally turned his back on that father. My patients deserve better in a Supreme Court Justice. We need the Supreme Court to support research-based and evidence-based laws and policies that will stop the public health crises of gun violence. Let’s cancel Kavanaugh and cancel the NRA’s stranglehold on policies for gun safety.
While the Tangerine Tyrant is under investigation, he should not get to make lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court. For months we’ve heard Senators talk about how we’re in a constitutional crisis because of Habanero Hitler. When patients are in crisis, doctors and nurses don’t just talk. We get to work and save lives. America’s health care has been in crisis ever since Agent Orange entered the White House. Brett Kavanaugh is yet another threat to patients and families. He will turn his back on patients with pre-existing conditions. He has turned his back on women accessing their right to safe abortions. He has literally turned his back on families struggling with the public health crises of gun violence. Senators, don’t turn your backs on us during this crisis. We need all hands on deck to cancel Kavanaugh and build health justice for all.
