President Obama has nominated Michael Boggs to the Federal bench. Boggs is a state court of appeals judge in Georgia with a troubling history of anti-choice bills during his earlier time in the Georgia State House of Representatives, where, among other things, he pushed for keeping the Confederate flag flying above the state capitol and for a stricter parental-involvement abortion law.
In an article at msnbc.com titled "Voting yes on Boggs is bad for women", NARAL Pro-Choice America president Ilyse Hogue writes:
Boggs is one of Obama’s picks to fill a court vacancy in the Northern District of Georgia. Boggs used to serve in the Georgia state House of Representatives, where he racked up a troubling record when it comes to the basic rights of all Americans. He co-sponsored two bills that would make one of the most anti-choice states in the country even more hostile to reproductive rights. One bill would have established “Choose Life” license plates and funneled money to so-called crisis pregnancy centers that lie to women about their health care, and another would have made Georgia’s parental involvement law even stricter, putting young women’s health at risk.
Boggs also voted against marriage equality and voted to keep a Confederate emblem on the state flag despite the grave disrespect it showed to the state’s African-American community.
Obama' nomination of Boggs to the Federal bench is apparently a concession to Georgia's Republican Senators Saxby Chambiss and John Isakson intended to speed the Senate's approval process for Federal judges.
White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler argued that we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and that putting Boggs in the mix helped move the process along. She points—correctly—to the role of the U.S. Senate in making it difficult to move these nominations.
However, President Obama will be gone in 29 months, while the effects of this nomination on women's health will last for generations. NARAL is urging the Senate to reject the nomination of Michael Boggs.