WASHINGTON • A conservative group says it will run $500,000 in advertising in Missouri to pressure Sen. Josh Hawley to support President Donald Trump’s nominee for a federal judgeship.

Hawley says the nominee, Neomi Rao, has a judicial philosophy and views on abortion rights that he may not be able to support.

Hawley, R-Mo., is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which could consider Rao’s nomination as soon as this week, and is undecided whether he will support her. If confirmed, Rao would replace Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the District of Columbia’s Court of Appeals.

“I want to make sure that Naomi Rao is pro-life — it is as simple as that,” Hawley told KFTK 97.1 FM Newstalk’s Marc Cox on Monday morning.

Hawley said he is concerned from Rao’s writings that she has a “warm view” toward “substantive due process” — a judicial doctrine that underpins the 1973 Supreme Court Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion that conservatives have long opposed. Hawley said Rao lacks sufficient prosecutorial experience to determine her position on “substantive due process” from that.

Rao appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee this month.