Just hours after Republicans shared a memo warning them to lie more about abortion and explain abortion more to women — because the problem is that women just don’t understand it, you know? and they should do this by saying they need to bring up nine month abortions and claiming that the Democrats support this and have laws to force taxpayers to fund abortions – Republican former Governor Chris Christie tried those talking points Morning Joe and things didn’t go well.
Mika Brzezinski calls out Chris Christie’s abortion lies #MorningJoe “There are no women in the state of New Jersey who rush into doctors’ offices asking for ninth-month abortions. It’s not happening.” pic.twitter.com/mUtaM0Y3tz
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) November 9, 2023
Mika: The issue you talked about last night was abortion. You and I disagree on this issue, but all you keep saying is that you keep talking about ninth month abortion, which is allowed in your country. And the last time I asked you to present to me the case where a woman in her ninth month walked into the doctor’s office and said, “I’ve decided I don’t want to have a baby.”
Please take this out. It is unprecedented that less than 1 percent of abortions are performed after 21 weeks and if there is such a situation, it is because there is a huge emergency. So I just think about all the candidates, you’ve been the most honest about Trump and election integrity. But in this one respect I have to call you out for not being honest about this issue.
We can debate abortion, but there is no ninth month abortion.
Christie: Mika, you’re the one who isn’t. be honest. I did not say that abortion took place in the ninth month. What I said was that the law in New Jersey, New York, Illinois and California allows this. And you can’t deny that that’s the truth, because it is.
And so, and so look,
Mika: That’s not true, happens Chris.
Christie: Don’t call, someone’s a liar. Don’t cause.
Mika: I’m not calling you a liar.
Christie: By the way. And no, no, no, Mika, and I didn’t say that either. Let’s have an honest discussion about this topic. Well, let’s have an honest discussion about what the law allows in those states? That’s all I said, so I don’t understand what your problem is with that. Ultimately, if that’s what the law allows, that’s what the people who passed those laws said is okay, that it’s legal.
Mika: Because, Chris, you’re painting a picture on the issue of abortion that isn’t fair. And this is a women’s health problem. And there are women who are in extreme situations who need health care and should get it. We can debate that. But there are no women in New Jersey rushing into doctors’ offices asking for ninth-month abortions. It doesn’t happen.
Christie became angry when she was questioned about a position that was a lie. He claims he can’t be sued for misrepresenting abortions because he’s just pointing to a law on the books. He adopted the tone explanation to Mika how abortion works.
It’s interesting to see how offended a man who tries to control women’s personal medical issues becomes when questioned, and how indignant he is that he accuses the female host of calling him a liar when he accused her of being dishonest too.
What exactly do these men think they are saying about women? Don’t women have feelings? Don’t they deserve the same respect that Christie demands? Why is it just accepted that men can smear women as a whole on national television using the strength of their position and power, but when a woman pushes back with the facts, she is the problem for daring to speak out.
Christie demands not to be questioned. Why does he interrogate women?
The bottom line is that it is not polite for a man to explain abortion to a woman on TV. It is also not right for a man to suggest that women might want an abortion at nine months, without any medical reason, and it takes men like him to protect women from these impulses.
In reality, there are no “9 month abortions.” And yes, that’s exactly what he’s suggesting, even though he refused to be responsible for it (and maybe we should talk about a lack of responsibility in men and how that’s responsible for unwanted pregnancies 100% of the time).
You won’t be shocked to learn that the Republicans already tried this propaganda during Issue One and lost in a red state. They were also checked for this at the time:
According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “late-term abortions” do not exist in the medical field.
It is also not Chris Christie’s business why or whether a doctor might think that a woman or girl needs medical intervention at some point during pregnancy. “Just being pregnant poses significant short- and long-term health risks, especially in the US,” Harvard Health wrote. “We have the highest rate of serious pregnancy-related complications among developed countries, resulting in approximately 700 deaths per year nationally… Black women are three times as likely as white women to die from pregnancy-related complications.”
Why don’t Republicans devote even a minute of legislative energy to the fact that 700 women and girls die during childbirth in the U.S. every year? I think so those lives does not matter. Maybe they should focus on how to make pregnancy safer here.
Oh, but wait. They actually make it more dangerous by ensuring abusers can have guns. Pregnancy is the most dangerous time for a woman in an abusive relationship. Want to guess what the leading cause of death is for pregnant women in the US?
It’s murder.
And crickets from these “very concerned about life” guys.
Furthermore, the Hyde Amendment already exists, and it stipulates that taxpayer dollars cannot fund abortion, which is actually very problematic. Since Republicans continue to lie and suggest this doesn’t exist, it’s time to have a conversation about how women who can’t afford an abortion shouldn’t be put in that position. An abortion is a medical procedure and must be covered.
While running for president in 2020, President Joe Biden made the argument that the Hyde Amendment should end. Of course, this is Congress’s responsibility, and President Johnson, who requires his son to be his porn-responsible partner and has introduced abortion bans, will probably never consider helping women.
We have already had a “conversation” about abortion. It resulted in the Great Compromise of Roe. The Republicans destroyed the compromise, and they didn’t do it because they wanted to be reasonable.
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Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then Vice President Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively reported on her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then-President Donald Trump.
Sarah is a two-time Telly award-winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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