Anti-choice activist confronted on CNN after saying dismantling Roe 'improves' women's lives
Twenty-four hours after a conservative Supreme Court issued a controversial and unpopular 6-3 ruling that dismantled the 50-year-old Roe v Wade decision that gave women the right to an abortion no matter where they lived, a longtime anti-choice activist attempted to make the case on CNN that taking away a woman's right to choose is actually a good thing.
That led a very skeptical Fredricka Whitfield to pepper former Americans United for Life CEO Charmaine Yoest with a series of questions asking her to make her case -- only to be told repeatedly, "Women deserve better than abortion."
After stating that the court returned this "to the American people and that is what is really exciting about this," Yoest stated, "[This] is the best of what America is supposed to be. That on issues like this, that have deeply held opinions on both sides are going to be decided by people with their closest representatives in a conversation in their own community. And so people are waking up this morning and discovering that they finally have an opportunity to legislate on this issue and that is what we've been working for in the pro-life community for decades now."
"Except, this ruling is contrary to what polled American's opinion is on Roe v. Wade," the CNN host corrected her. "That nearly 60% of Americans polled say they do want women to have a choice."
"You know, I'm really glad you bring that up," Yoest parried. "So I'm hearing this a lot. That this reflects people's supporting Roe, but when you dig into it, people don't support Roe when they know what Roe actually meant. When you look at polling data that asked people if they support common-sense regulations on abortion, you get 80% support for things like informed consent, parental consent, other kinds of things that protect women's health. Frankly, women deserve better than an abortion."
After Yoest claimed, "Women are more pro-life than men are. The pro-life movement has been led by women for decades, so I think you're going to see an invigorated conversation about women and women's place in society. And we welcome that because I think that is a good conversation for us to be having," host Whitfield shot back, "Except the interpretation of many women is that the Roe v. Wade allowed for a choice. And taking that away now eliminates the choice."
"You know, I'm so glad you say that because one of the things that has motivated a lot of us in this movement has been refreshed by women who came out of having an abortion and saying that they felt abused. That they felt backed into it, that they had no choice. And they tell pollsters that time and time again that abortion wasn't this thing that they wanted. It was the baby that was the problem. It was their financial circumstances, relationship and professional circumstances and I would argue to you, Fredricka, that as women, we deserve better than that. That is the lowest common denominator. That is the bottom of the barrel in terms of what we could offer to women in 2022 America. We could do better than that."
"What do you say to women who feel they have fewer rights as a result of this decision and they deserve to have equal rights?" the CNN host pressed.
"Well one of the things that I don't think people are talking about enough is we're hearing a lot about how some states are restricting abortion rights, but Fredricka, actually, as you know, other states are flinging open the doors. So we're going to have a very vibrant conversation moving forward about what common-sense abortion regulations looks like."
"And how do you see this decision improving American women's lives?" the CNN host later asked.
"Oh, very definitely, because we believe that American women deserve so much better than abortion," she repeated yet again. "And so coming to a place where we're talking about what does better look like and how can we have better scenario for women where they don't feel backed into a worst-case decision. That is a very definite improvement for women."
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