A protester is led away during the confirmation hearings. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Four anti-abortion protesters have already been escorted out of Hart 216 on Day One of the Sotomayor hearing. That doesn't surprise Charmaine Yoest, the president of Americans United for Life and one of 14 witnesses called by ranking member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. Anti-abortion protesters have been demonstrating outside the Hart Building throughout the day as well.
The outbursts "underscore that the grassroots really are energized about this and are paying attention," Yoest said in an interview during the lunchtime break at today's hearing.
"They're grasping at straws," said Marge Baker, executive vice president of People for the American Way. "But I guess it's something that feeds their base."
Yoest is scheduled to testify on Thursday, primarily to highlight Sotomayor's involvement with LatinoJustice PRLDEF and make the argument that, as she put it, "a vote for Sotomayor is a vote for unrestricted abortion on demand." PRLDEF has taken positions in opposition to parental notification and bans on partial birth abortion, Yoest said.
Yoest also said she has heard rumors that Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Al Franken, D-Minn., will be "pretty aggressive in their questions" when she takes the stand Thursday, but "we're welcoming the opportunity to get out her record."
"If people are surprised about how much abortion is coming into play, maybe that's because they haven't been paying attention to her record," Yoest said.
For more on abortion stakeholders' role in the hearings, see this NationalJournal.com video.
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