Last election cycle, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel brought on his wife to sound a literal alarm that people need to vote for Democrats in order to save abortion. On Tuesday, he invited Vice President Kamala Harris to do the same. Throughout, Kimmel would put the ball on the tee for Harris while she would compare pro-lifers to molesters and slavers.
Kimmel began with the softest possible question, “I want to start with reproductive rights. You're for them, yes?”
After Harris affirmed she does support abortion, Kimmel continued, “They are being threatened. I mean, not just threatened, but you know, Roe v. Wade, we know what happened with the Supreme Court. It is—is this something that you ever imagined would happen in your lifetime?”
Harris replied, “Absolutely not” and proceeded to launch into stump speech mode, “Understand who is to blame. The former president, Donald Trump, hand-picked three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade and they did as he intended. And after that, in state after state, laws have been passed to criminalize doctors and nurses. There's a state that provides for prison for life for a doctor administering care.”
She also compared pro-lifers to molesters:
People know I started my career as a prosecutor. You may not know why. One of the reasons is my best friend in high school, I learned was being molested by her stepfather. So, she came to live with us. And I decided at a young age, I wanted to do the work of fighting to protect women and children from harm. And the idea that these laws would make no exception even for a survivor of a violation to their body? And to tell that woman, that person, you don't have a right to make a decision about what happens to your body next? It's immoral.
Kimmel then took the fearmongering up a notch, “And to add on that, additionally, I think we're very focused on abortion, but this is— certainly affects birth control as well, contraception. I don't think most people know that. I don't think people are thinking about that. About the fact that they very well might not be able to get birth control in the states they live in.”
Harris was happy to play along, “, in that decision that undid the protections of Roe, Clarence Thomas said the quiet part out loud, that contraception could very much be at risk. And it is at risk and let's understand moving forward, not only is that at risk, look at IVF and what has happened and how clinics have closed because of fear that they may be violating the law to provide IVF treatment.”
Nobody has ever questioned Democrats on how their logic in supporting IVF is irreconcilable with their support for abortion and Kimmel certainly wasn’t going to be the first. Instead, he stuck with the contraception fearmongering, “Do you think there's a fundamental flaw in our system when a body like the Supreme Court can make a decision that is so unpopular with Americans, and still the vast majority of Americans certainly believe in a woman's right to choose, especially -- I think it's 88 percent support access to contraception.”
If Kimmel broke the fearmongering scale, Harris broke the analogy scale by reverting to abortion, “Well we, in our history, we know, I mean look at the Dred Scott decision. This is not the first time that we know the Court can make decisions that violate the civil rights of the people.”
Dred Scott ruled that some people are property and therefore have no rights. That does sound familiar, just not the way Kimmel and Harris think.
Here is a transcript for the Jun4 4 show:
ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!
6/4/2024
11:53 PM ET
JIMMY KIMMEL: I want to start with reproductive rights.
KAMALA HARRIS: Yes.
KIMMEL: You're for them, yes?
HARRIS: Indeed.
KIMMEL: Yes, I had a feeling, I knew that about you. I learned a little bit about you beforehand. They are being threatened. I mean, not just threatened, but you know, Roe v. Wade, we know what happened with the Supreme Court. It is — is this something that you ever imagined would happen in your lifetime?
HARRIS: Absolutely not. Although I was raised to understand that the rights that we fight for will not be permanent unless we are vigilant in fighting for them to continue. You know, but the thought that almost two years ago, the highest court in our land took a constitutional right from the people of America, from the women of America — and understand who is to blame. The former president, Donald Trump, hand-picked three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade and they did as he intended. And after that, in state after state, laws have been passed to criminalize doctors and nurses. There's a state that provides for prison for life for a doctor administering care.
State after state, making no exception for rape or incest. You know, people know I started my career as a prosecutor. You may not know why. One of the reasons is my best friend in high school, I learned was being molested by her stepfather. So, she came to live with us. And I decided at a young age, I wanted to do the work of fighting to protect women and children from harm. And the idea that these laws would make no exception even for a survivor of a violation to their body? And to tell that woman, that person, you don't have a right to make a decision about what happens to your body next? It's immoral. And I think most of us agree. One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree, the government should not be telling her what to do with her body.
KIMMEL: And to add on that, additionally, I think we're very focused on abortion, but this is — certainly affects birth control as well, contraception.
HARRIS: Absolutely.
KIMMEL: I don't think most people know that. I don't think people are thinking about that. About the fact that they very well might not be able to get birth control in the states they live in.
HARRIS: Well, but remember, in that decision that undid the protections of Roe, Clarence Thomas said the quiet part out loud, that contraception could very much be at risk. And it is at risk and let's understand moving forward, not only is that at risk, look at IVF and what has happened and how clinics have closed because of fear that they may be violating the law to provide IVF treatment. What is happening in terms of those who are basically calling for a national abortion ban — by the way, everybody in, like, New York and California don't feel so safe and secure, because if there's a national ban, nobody will be safe from the government telling them what to do with their own body. And remember, when Donald Trump was president, he supported a national ban and said he would sign it. And if I have to guess, if he were president again, that's exactly what he would do.
KIMMEL: Do you think there's a fundamental flaw in our system when a body like the Supreme Court can make a decision that is so unpopular with Americans, and still the vast majority of Americans certainly believe in a woman's right to choose, especially — I think it's 88 percent support access to contraception.
HARRIS: Well we, in our history, we know, I mean look at the Dred Scott decision. This is not the first time that we know the Court can make decisions that violate the civil rights of the people. But this is when we have to praise the fact that we still have an intact democracy with three co-equal branches of government. So what the Supreme Court took away, Congress can put back in place. And that's where the people come in. With your right to then elect the people in the United States Congress who will fight and protect your freedom and put aside their personal opinion about what's best for themselves, or their family, and let you make the decision that's best for you and your family.
KIMMEL: Do you think that voters — do you think that voters are aware that their health care could very easily be taken away? And I'm talking about general health care.
HARRIS: I think that we need to keep talking about it. Again, we have an election coming up in 154 days. Okay? The previous president, who is running for election again, when he was president, supported and fanned the flames of at least 60 attempts to undo the Affordable Care Act. Let's remember what the Affordable Care Act did. Among many things, it said a pre-existing health condition cannot be the basis of a health insurance company denying you coverage.
KIMMEL: And the lifetime caps on coverage that existed are no longer, because of the Affordable Care Act. But do you think — because I feel like this would be one of those things that the Republicans would regret taking away, because the people who supported them would feel this in a real way.
HARRIS: Well, I think they're going to regret what they did on the issue of abortion. And you could see that when you look at the midterms that happened last year. When you look at the special elections. In so-called red and so-called blue states around this country, Kansas to California, Ohio and Virginia. When freedom was on the ballot, the American people voted for freedom. Similarly, I believe and know and I've traveled throughout our country. The American people know access to health care should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it and if you start messing with people's ability to have access to health care, I think they're going to tell folks at the ballot box where to go.
