John Oliver went after the Supreme Court on Sunday’s Last Week Tonight following the recent news that it had reportedly voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, a move that would end the nationwide right to legal abortion.
Oliver cited data showing that 25 percent of women have had an abortion, with 6 in 10 of those already mothers.
“Some who get abortions are survivors or rape or incest, others might need one for medical reasons, bur also just to be clear, some will be seeking abortion because they fucking want one, and this is very much about them too,” he said. “This is a fight for people’s right to have control over their bodies. It’s about bodily autonomy.”
Oliver showed video of a woman who, at six weeks and one day pregnant, was told she was not able to get an abortion in the state of Texas. The woman said her birth control had failed her and she was already raising two kids by herself and not ready to have another child.
“Six weeks and a day, and she can’t get an abortion,” he said. “For most people, that is a period that’s two weeks late, and your period can be two weeks late for any number of reasons. Maybe you’re tired or traveling or you had a change in diet or exercise, or maybe you’re just dealing with the stress of living in a misogynistic theocracy run by five of the biggest weirdos in the country,” he said, showing a photo of the five justices who reportedly were voting to overturn the landmark 1973 case.
Oliver argued that while conservatives for decades have been working to overturn the case, he said Democrat leaders have not been aggressive in standing up for abortion rights. He cited that Bill Clinton and Barack Obama as two examples, noting the latter ran for president on a platform that included his support of the Freedom of Choice Act, which would make the right to abortion into law. But 100 days into his presidency, Obama was asked about it and “wasted no time distancing himself from it,” Oliver said, showing video of Obama saying that the passage of the act was not a high legislative priority.
Oliver called for elected officials to “stop tiptoeing around the issue of abortion and take steps to properly safeguard it. The dream version of this would be a constitutional amendment that would support people’s fundamental rights to make personal decisions about contraception, pregnancy, marriage and family life. But until then, we’re going to need other legislation at the state and federal level.”
Oliver then warned that other decisions could be forthcoming that impact other rights.
“We may now also need to shore up other rights supposedly guaranteed by Supreme Court rulings, from voting rights to gay marriage,” he said, “because the fact is, under the current Supreme Court, your basic rights today could become crimes tomorrow.”
Source: Hollywood
