In the face of right-wing fearmongering about abortion it's always best to come prepared with facts pora HMO during yesterday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that centered on abortion bans and the implications for Interstate travel Louisiana Senator John Kennedy who proudly touts an a rating from the Susan banthony list failed spectacularly.
When he tried to push the ridiculous Republican talking point that late term abortions are a common occurrence let's roll the tape my example is not unrealistic if your answer is going to be that never happens let me go to miss fry what do you think well Senator first of all if you don't ask a question if you don't.
Want to know the answer and I think one but I'm saying to you Senator 1% 1% of abortions happen at 21 weeks or later so I think the premise of your question sets up a conversation about abortion that is unfair it is rarely is that ever the instance and I understand your point Senator I understand your point but with all due respect I also think the chances.
Of people sort of getting all the way through a pregnancy and just sort of saying I don't want it is disrespectful to women bloop I mean don't ask a question if you don't want to know the answer Senator Kennedy yesterday's hearing preceded today's Supreme Court decision rejecting a bid to restrict access to the abortion pill M prone.
Joining me now is Joselyn fry the president of the National Partnership for women and families and Leah Litman law professor at the University of Michigan law school and co-host of the strict scrutiny podcast thank you uh both for being here uh Jocelyn fry let me start with you on this because you gave that really an answer uh but it is.
Insulting and stupid because the idea that women go all the way through a 9-month pregnancy and then like at 8 weeks and 28 days go you know what I don't think I want a baby that's dumb why do Republic can keep saying it well first of all Joan thank you for having me uh you know I I think the reason that they do it is because.
They're trying to stigmatize people who are trying to seek abortions and so they frame the conversation in the most extreme way possible in ways that we know don't really happen in a way so that they look reasonable when they try to push back on abortion it it simply doesn't happen that way and it was important to say that because it really.
Paints a picture that is disrespectful to women and anybody who's seeking an abortion yeah I mean Leah Litman if someone loses a baby at that stage I mean I I know people I have friends who've had pregnancies that you know were trying to end themselves early like trying to actually you know people are very very premature and you know that's.
A crisis for a woman if something happens and you're not at full term and you start to you know maybe go into labor people go on 5 months of bed rest to make make sure that they had their it it is in it is insane but I have heard this talking point repeated Liz Cheney used to say it they'll say it over and over again that Democrats want abortion.
Up until birth Trump says it and so this has gone into the zeit guys and I think it's insulting specifically to women who have pregnancies that are in crisis because that's what we're talking about when you're even saying you have to have a procedure other than uh delivery at that point I think that that's exactly right.
And they're doing that in part to minimize the fact that these abortion bands are wreaking utter Terror and havoc on women throughout their pregnancies we've all heard the story about Amanda zovsky and many of the other plaintiffs in the case challenging the Texas abortion ban who were forced into emergency situations where they.
Came within you know minutes or days of death because they went into septic shock after they were denied an abortion care and so what all of these stories are designed to do are designed to detract from the reality of these abortion bands you know abortion is a medical procedure and when it is used later in a pregnancy it is often times.
Because there are medical complications it might be that something was detected such as the fetus is no longer compatible with Life it might be that a woman develops a you know catastrophic medical condition such that she is no longer able to carry the pregnancy these are all real situations that have Arisen when these abortion bands were allowed.
To go into effect and it's actually another issue that the court is going to decide this term whether states can actually prohibit abortions and prohibit hospitals from denying abortions in cases that are necessary to save the Life Health bodily organs and bodily functions of pregnant women yeah I mean J this is essentially the going to be a.
Case that decides do women have to be near death and bleeding out before they can get an abortion and it seems that all that people like Samuel Alo care about are the are the feelings and the religious beliefs of people who oppose abortion and they're saying it they if they're inconvenienced in any way by having to be in the same room or in the.
Same hospital as some getting an abortion that has to take priority over literally women's life and death well I think that's that's exactly right and it's the problem um you know what I focused on yesterday what Senator White House I think wanted to raise in that hearing was that we need to refocus our attention on the people who really.
Matter the women and people seeking abortion and who need access to Quality Care and the problem with that case that's pending before The Supreme Court is it doesn't exactly the opposite it puts uh these decisions in the hands of politicians and you know quite frankly has them sort of poking their heads and spaces where they ought not to be in.
Crisis situations you want medical professionals who are able to make quick decisions the right decisions and maximize their focus on the health and well-being of that patient and nothing else and Le what happens if the Comstock act it starts to be enforced what what kind of paint me the picture of what America looks like under an act ly.
Enforced comto act it's a terrifying picture that's an 1873 Victorian era law that some pro-life groups anti-abortion groups are arguing is effectively a nationwide abortion ban that is secretly on the books and could be revivified by some future Republican Administration again basically like a zombie law and so what.
That would mean is if some future Republican president or attorney general enforced the comto ACT they would be arguing that it is a federal crime punishable by imprison to distri the medication abortion drug they have also argued that it would be a federal crime under the comto ACT to deliver devices that are used in procedural abortion so.
What they would be doing in effect is saying there's a nationwide abortion ban on the books without Congress having to pass one and and Joselyn fr the other piece is that you know I I remember when the first uh IVF procedures were created and the reaction of Evangelical Christians was to say it was a demonic Abomination they still think that the.
National B the Southern Baptist convention has said it should be banned and so that's what we're living under people want a theocracy and they want their religious beliefs enforced by law well I think you know one of the troubling things is that we have uh unfortunately a very narrow.
Understanding of the perspectives of people of Faith there are lots of people of Faith who support abortion access who believe that these decisions ought to be left to patients and their health care providers and it's unfortunate that the narrative that dominates is these very extreme views that really ignore the health and well-being and the care of of.
Women and families indeed I'm one of them and red letter Christians exist and also have rights as well and should not be ordered around by the Christians who don't read the things that are written and read in the Bible Joselyn fry and Leah Litman thank you both very much
Now I know what the GOP stands for Gaslighting Veteran Politicians😅
My accomplice and I had three younger of us together. She carried the babies. I watched her raise our kids for 9 months, to evaluate that she would accomplish that after which express Nah, I'll abort is no longer handiest insulting to girls it’s miles an ignorant quiz, looking for reinforce from love minded of us. Receive. John Kennedy has the final sense, of a farm animal.
And DeSatan says after start 🙄