Just hours after Republicans were sharing 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, you see? and they should do this by saying bringing up 9 month abortions and claiming that Democrats support this and have laws to force taxpayers to fund abortions – Republican former Governor Chris Christie tried those talking points out on Morning Joe and it didn’t go well.
Mika Brzezinski calls out Chris Christie’s abortion lies on #MorningJoe “there are not women in the state of New Jersey trouncing into doctor’s offices asking for abortions in the ninth month. It doesn’t happen.” pic.twitter.com/mUtaM0Y3tz
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) November 9, 2023
Mika: Now the issue that you talked about last night was abortion. You and I disagree on this issue, but the one thing you keep saying is you keep talking about abortion in the ninth month, which is allowed in your state. And last time I asked you to like bring me the case where a woman walked into a doctor’s office in the ninth month and said, I’ve decided that don’t want to have a baby.
Please take this out. It doesn’t happen. Less than 1 percent of abortions are performed after 21 weeks and if there is a situation like that, it’s because there is a massive emergency. So I just think of 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 because you’re not being honest on the issue.
We can debate abortion, but there isn’t abortion in the ninth month.
Christie: Mika, you’re the one who’s not. being honest. I did not say there was abortion in the ninth month. What I said was that the law in New Jersey and New York and Illinois and California permits it. And you can’t deny that that’s the truth because it is.
And so, and so look,
Mika: It doesn’t happen, Chris.
Christie: Don’t call somebody a liar. Don’t, cause.
Mika: I’m not calling you a liar.
Christie: By the way. Nor, no, no, no, Mika, nor did I say that it did. Let’s have an honest discussion about the issue. Well, well, let’s have an honest discussion about what the law permits it in those states.
Well, that’s all I said, so I don’t understand what your problem is with that. In the end, if that’s what the law permits, that’s what the people who passed those laws said is okay, is legally permissible.
Mika: Because, Chris, you’re painting a picture about the issue of abortion that is not honest. And this is a health issue for women. And there are women who are in extreme situations who need healthcare and they should get it. We can debate that. But there are not women in the state of New Jersey trancing into doctor’s offices asking for abortions in the ninth month. It doesn’t happen.
Christie got angry at being questioned over a position that is a lie. He’s claiming that he can’t be called out for misrepresenting abortions because he’s just pointing out a law on the books. He took the tone of explaining to Mika how abortion works.
It’s interesting to watch how offended a man trying to control women’s personal medical issues becomes when he is questioned, and how outraged he is to the point of accusing the woman host of calling him a liar when he accused her of being dishonest as well.
What exactly do these men think they are saying about women? Do women not have feelings? Do they not deserve the same respect Christie is demanding? Why is it just accepted that men can smear women as an entirety on national TV using the force of their positions and power to boot, but when a woman pushes back with the facts she’s the problem for daring to call him out.
Christie is demanding that he not be questioned. So, why is he questioning women?
The bottom line is it’s not a good look for a man to be yell-explaining abortion to a woman on TV. It’s also not a good look for a man to be suggesting that women might just want an abortion at 9 months for no medical reason whatsoever and it takes men like him to control women from these impulses.
In reality, there are not “9 month abortions.” And yes, that is exactly what he is suggesting, even though he refused to be accountable for it (and maybe we should discuss a lack of accountability on men’s parts and how that is 100% of the time responsible for unwanted pregnancies).
You won’t be shocked to learn that Republicans already tried this exact propaganda during Issue One, and lost in a red state. They got fact-checked for it then, too:
“Late-term abortions” do not exist in the medical field, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.”
It’s also none of Chris Christie’s business why or if a doctor might think a woman or girl requires a medical intervention at any point during a pregnancy. “Simply being pregnant poses significant short-term and long-term risks to health, particularly in the US,” Harvard Health wrote. “We have the highest rate of serious pregnancy-related complications among developed nations, resulting in about 700 deaths a year nationally… Black women are three times as likely to die as white women from pregnancy-related complications.”
Why aren’t Republicans exerting even a minute of legislative energy on the fact that 700 women and girls die a year in the US giving birth? I guess those lives don’t matter. Maybe they should be focusing on how to make pregnancy safer here.
Oh, but wait. They’re actually making it more dangerous by making sure 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 women who are pregnant in the U.S.?
It’s homicide.
And crickets from these “very concerned about life” men.
Additionally, the Hyde Amendment already exists, and it dictates that taxpayer money can’t fund abortion, which is actually really problematic. Since Republicans keep lying suggesting that it doesn’t exist, it’s time to have a conversation about how women who can’t afford abortions shouldn’t be put into that position. An abortion is a medical procedure and it should be covered.
While running for president in 2020, President Joe Biden made the argument that the Hyde Amendment should end. Of course, this is up to Congress and Speaker Johnson, who requires his son to be his porn accountability partner and has pushed abortion bans, is not likely to ever consider helping women.
We’ve already had a “conversation” about abortion. It resulted in the Great Compromise of Roe. Republicans overturned the compromise, and they didn’t do that because they want to be reasonable.
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Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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