On Thursday's CNN Newsroom host Victor Blackwell welcomed Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson onto the show to talk about the state of "the war" for abortion access. In her response, Johnson would reference Martin Luther King Jr. to justify the morality of abortion.
Blackwell teed up Johnson by reading from Judge Robert Pitman's Wednesday ruling that halted enforcement of Texas' pro-life law, "'That other courts may find a way to avoid this conclusion is theirs to decide. This court will not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of such an important right.'"
Blackwell was concerned that Pitman's ruling might be fool's gold for people like Johnson, "This now goes to, and we know, the attorney general there says that the state will appeal, it goes to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is one of, if not the most conservative courts of appeal in the country. Abortion providers have won this battle. What's your outlook on the war?"
If any pro-lifer referred to the abortion debate as a "war," CNN would lecture them about how their dangerous rhetoric is putting lives at risk by encouraging violence. Instead, Blackwell's framing allowed Johnson to portray herself as fighting some sort of righteous holy war, "Look, I mean, I think as I, as I quoted at the rally this weekend, you know, like Dr. King, the arc is long but it bends towards justice, and we are seeking abortion justice. We are -- will be continuing to fight. The war is not over."
After comparing abortion access to desegregation, Johnson added, "There's no state in the union where banning abortion is popular and so we will be using all of our levers. We will be fighting in the courts. We will be fighting on the ground. And we will be ensuring that all of lawmakers understand the impact that this decision will be having on their, on their citizens."
If anything, the arc of justice appears to be bending in the other direction as abortion and Roe v. Wade are not nearly as popular as Johnson and her media allies think they are.
This segment was sponsored by Liberty Mutual.
Here is a transcript of the October 7 show:
CNN
CNN Newsroom with Alisyn Camerota and Victor Blackwell
2:48 PM ET
VICTOR BLACKWELL: Well, you and he, Judge Pitman, I'm speaking of, acknowledge that this fight is not over. Let me read a little more from this ruling, "That other courts may find a way to avoid this conclusion is theirs to decide. This court will not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of such an important right." This now goes to, and we know, the attorney general there says that the state will appeal, it goes to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is one of, if not the most conservative courts of appeal in the country. Abortion providers have won this battle. What's your outlook on the war?
ALEXIS MCGILL JOHNSON: Look, I mean, I think as I, as I quoted at the rally this weekend, you know, like Dr. King, the arc is long but it bends towards justice, and we are seeking abortion justice. We are -- will be continuing to fight. The war is not over. Last night's order was very clear about the devastating impact of patients and we're going to continue to fight not only in Texas but in all of these other states that think they can put these copycat laws into place. There's no state in the union where banning abortion is popular and so we will be using all of our levers. We will be fighting in the courts. We will be fighting on the ground. And we will be ensuring that all of lawmakers understand the impact that this decision will be having on their, on their citizens.
