On the Sunday, April 27, Melissa Harris-Perry show, during a discussion of new laws restricting abortion in Mississippi and Texas, guest Chloe Angyal of Feministing.com ridiculously saw “white supremacy” in Republican state legislators who had worked to reduce abortion, and asserted that these GOPers should be “ashamed of themselves.”
Marcus Mabry of The New York Times stated the legal question was “at what point will the Supreme Court say the state impediments to a woman’s ability to get an abortion actually represent illegal actions?” [See video below.]
Angyal fretted:
What’s happening in Texas and in Mississippi is, I think, a crystal clear and really painful demonstration of the American reality which is that racism and sexism often go hand in hand. Whenever you see racism, if you take a second look, you’ll find sexism there. And whenever you see sexism, you take a second look and you’ll also find white supremacy and racism. And that is exactly what is happening here.
After complaining that minority women are more likely to be inconvenienced by laws restricting abortion, she added: “And, frankly, the Republicans in the legislature in Mississippi and Texas ought to be ashamed of themselves.”
She ended up complaining that “they are making policy that represent the worst and most corrosive elements of American culture in policy form.”
For his part, substitute host Jonathan Capehart — a columnist for the Washington Post — characterized efforts to restrict abortion in other states as a “wide-ranging assault” and saw an “extreme crackdown on reproductive rights.”
Panel member Dr. Willie Parker, an abortion doctor who works in Mississippi, even portrayed unwanted pregnancy as something that women would be “condemned” to if they were unable to travel a longer distance to find an abortion clinic.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Sunday, April 27, Melissa Harris-Perry show on MSNBC:
DR. WILLIE PARKER, ABORTION DOCTOR: Well, any rule that stands between a woman and her constitutionally guaranteed right to make the decision about whether to continue pregnancy in consultation with a health care provider is an undue burden.
Whether you’re talking about state law or federal, these laws do nothing to enhance the safety, and so if a clinic, already women are having to drive hours and they’re having challenges around for those women who can’t, who don’t have a car, or who can’t arrange transportation, those women are condemned to continue pregnancies that they don’t want or to incur the-
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Expense?
-expense or, more importantly, the complications associated with pregnancy.
(…)
CAPEHART: Dr. Parker, what do you make of this wide-ranging assault?
(DR. WILLIE PARKER, ABORTION DOCTOR)
Stay right there because this extreme crackdown on reproductive rights extends far beyond Mississippi. When we come back, we’ll look at what happens when states use legal means to restrict the rights of women.
(…)
CHLOE ANGYAL, EDITOR OF FEMINISTING.COM: What’s happening in Mississippi and in Texas is, I think, a crystal clear and really painful demonstration of the American reality which is that racism and sexism often go hand in hand. Whenever you see racism, if you take a second look, you’ll find sexism there. And whenever you see sexism, you take a second look and you’ll also find white supremacy and racism. And that is exactly what is happening here.
These laws don’t just target women; they target women of color. The laws in the Rio Grande Valley target women who can’t go to a hospital when they have complications from an illegal abortion. They can’t go to a hospital to get life-saving treatment because they’re afraid of being deported.
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And the laws in Mississippi target women who don’t have the economic means to just get up and go to a state 240 miles away where abortion is accessible. And those women are disproportionately likely to be African-American. So these laws don’t just target women; they target women of color. And, frankly, the Republicans in the legislature in Mississippi and Texas ought to be ashamed of themselves.
MARCUS MABRY, NEW YORK TIMES: But, politically, these states, these legislaures are allowed to do this because politically they’re not being turned out of office because of these measures. So, politically, in these states, they stand.
ANGYAL: That’s true, but they are making policy that represent the worst and most corrosive elements of American culture in policy form.
LifeNews.com Note: Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst for the Media Research Center and a graduate of the University of Virginia. This column originally appeared on the NewsBusters web site and is reprinted with permission.
