Coburn then asked whether advances in technology could push back the period when abortion is legal. He cited a report of a premature baby born at 21 weeks that survived. In the past, it was said the point of viability was about 24 weeks.
Could such medical advances "have any bearing as we look at the law?" Coburn asked.
"I can't answer in the abstract," Sotomayor said again. "I can't because that's not a question the court reaches out to answer."
Sotomayor told Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) that she did not know why some liberals said she strongly supported abortion rights, and she told Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) that she did not know the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund had filed a Supreme Court brief in favor of taxpayer-funded abortions while she was on the group's board.
For the most part, Democrats refused to press Sotomayor to reveal her views. They defended her for standing on her record as an experienced, moderate judge.
But advocates who closely follow the abortion issue said they were disturbed by Sotomayor's reticence.
Dr. Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, derided the judge for "seeming to forget or purposefully mislead the committee on her pro-abortion record. . . . A vote for Judge Sotomayor is a vote for unrestricted abortion-on-demand without any common-sense restrictions."
Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, criticized Sotomayor for not voicing support for a "woman's fundamental right to abortion." With the exception of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), she faulted the Senate Judiciary Committee for not forcing the nominee to explain her views on abortion.
Sotomayor "largely stuck to the script," Northup said.
"For more than a generation, the Senate has been part of a conspiracy of silence on judicial nominees' views on abortion rights," Northup said.
On gun rights, Sotomayor refused to say whether she thought the 2nd Amendment's "right to bear arms" applied to state and local laws. Last year, the Supreme Court struck down a handgun ban in the District of Columbia and ruled for the first time that individuals had a right to have a gun for self-defense. Justice Antonin Scalia said "the inherent right to self-defense has been central to the 2nd Amendment right."
But since the District of Columbia is under federal jurisdiction, that decision left open the question of whether the 2nd Amendment also restricts state and municipal gun control laws. In the 19th century, the high court said the 2nd Amendment applied only to the federal government.
