On Saturday's Melissa Harris-Perry show on MSNBC, during a discussion of the 40th anniversary of the Roe Vs. Wade Supreme Court decision, panel member Nia-Malika Henderson of the Washington Post asserted that it is a "real problem" that many parts of the country do not have abortion clinics.
She went on to fret that younger people are not interested enough in the issue and recommended that "feminist groups and pro-abortion groups have to find a way to engage them and educate them because they're going to be the ones that are on these grassroot levels and at the state levels..."
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Saturday, January 19, Melissa Harris-Perry show on MSNBC:
MELISSA HARRIS-PERRY: On a current piece in The Nation magazine, by the editors, they say, "Okay, where are we 40 years after Roe?" And what they find is that "87 percent of U.S. counties lack an abortion provider" and that "several states have only a clinic or two staffed by a doctor who flies in from another state.
So it's legal, but you can't access it.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, WASHINGTON POST: Yeah, and I think that's a, I mean, that's a real problem. I think on the national level, sort of the national politicians have won the race if you look at the 2012.
But on the state level, there is this consistent erosion in terms of access to abortion, in terms of abortion rights, and I think young people if, you know, polls are to be believed and they voted for Democrats and they believe that abortion should be legal, I think feminist groups and pro-abortion groups have to find a way to engage them and educate them because they're going to be the ones that are on these grassroot levels and at the state levels...
