(CNSNews.com) – The right to an abortion is not different than any other “fundamental right,” according to a legal brief issued by the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF), in a case regarding Missouri state funding restrictions on abortion from 1988 when attorney Sonia Sotomayor was a member of the group’s governing board.

Sotomayor, now a U.S. court of appeals judge nominated by President Barack Obama to be an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, served on the board from 1980 to 1992, during which time the organization weighed in on five abortion cases. These included the 1988 case of Webster v. Reproductive Health Services and the 1992 case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold confirmation hearings on Sotomayor next week...