In major abortion ruling, Kavanaugh offers clues of how he might handle issue on Court

Judge Patricia A. Millett said Kavanaugh had misconstrued the meaning of an “undue burden” by allowing a further delay of the teen’s abortion that already had been put off by the government for weeks.

“There is nothing expeditious about the prolonged and complete barrier to J.D.’s exercise of her right to terminate her pregnancy that [Kavanaugh’s] order allowed the government to perpetuate,” wrote Millett, using the initials for Jane Doe, as the teen was identified in court papers.

In his dissent, Kavanaugh accused his colleagues of creating “a new right for unlawful immigrant minors in U.S. government detention to obtain immediate abortion on demand.” The phrase — “abortion on demand” — is part of the antiabortion lexicon.