Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central, Please welcome Alexis McGill Johnson, Welcome, Welcome,
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Daily Show. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: having me. What a time to have you on UM.
Speaker 1: Everybody in the country has been shell shocked by what
Speaker 1: is not an official decision, but unfortunately looks like a
Speaker 1: looming one. Nonetheless, as the president of Planned Parenthood, I
Speaker 1: know many people are turning to you to say, what
Speaker 1: does this mean? What does it actually mean on the ground.
Speaker 1: So right now it is still a draft opinion. On
Speaker 1: the ground, abortion is still legal, and I think that's
Speaker 1: really important because there are people waking up every day
Speaker 1: who are going to health centers to get access to care,
Speaker 1: and there are already enough restrictions out there. So we
Speaker 1: have to remember that this is a moment where the
Speaker 1: final decision isn't in. What we saw on the ground
Speaker 1: as well, yesterday was an intense set of demonstrations of
Speaker 1: the rage that people have been experiencing over and over
Speaker 1: again and the frustration with seeing their rights being chipped away.
Speaker 1: When you when you look at that and you look
Speaker 1: at that fight, do you do you ever think that
Speaker 1: we could do a better job of maintaining a consistency
Speaker 1: in these fights for people's liberties as opposed to having
Speaker 1: it be an on off switch, because you know, I
Speaker 1: know people have made record donations and know there people
Speaker 1: are protesting, etcetera. But if you look at conservatives on
Speaker 1: their side, it seems like they've been slowly chipping away.
Speaker 1: They slowly chip away. They plan way in advance, they
Speaker 1: think of which judges to get into which positions, and
Speaker 1: now it looks like they're going to read the foods
Speaker 1: of their you know, you know, of their labor. I'd
Speaker 1: love to know what you think, like people who believe
Speaker 1: that women should have the right to choose what they
Speaker 1: do with their own bodies, what they should be doing
Speaker 1: constantly as opposed to intimittently. Well, I think you're absolutely
Speaker 1: right to locate it like in in what the long game?
Speaker 1: Is right that the the opposition has spent um fifty
Speaker 1: years fighting this, but the last twelve years in particular
Speaker 1: weaponizing jerrymandering um in states, UH, focusing on on justices
Speaker 1: all the way up to the Supreme Court, and at
Speaker 1: every turn they have tried to essentially take more power
Speaker 1: in order to take more rights away. And it is
Speaker 1: not just access to abortion that they're coming for. Right,
Speaker 1: We've heard them openly talk about access to contraception, marriage, equality,
Speaker 1: interracial marriage, all the things of how we identify ourselves
Speaker 1: and our bodies. Um is exactly what the long game
Speaker 1: and the strategy is. So our long game has to
Speaker 1: be just as relentless, right, it has to be just
Speaker 1: as strategic. It is not just about being in the streets.
Speaker 1: It is about capturing that rage and turning it into uh,
Speaker 1: into the mid terms. Two. We've got to make sure
Speaker 1: that we're turning people out. And we also have to
Speaker 1: think about, you know, the fact that they've kicked us
Speaker 1: out of the constitution. Right if row we wade is overturned,
Speaker 1: they're essentially saying you are not equal, you cannot control
Speaker 1: your body. And so if anybody kicks you out of
Speaker 1: the constitution, youve got to think about how you're gonna
Speaker 1: get yourself back in there. Yeah, when you um, when
Speaker 1: you think about this fight, I think a lot of
Speaker 1: the time people think about what they can do to
Speaker 1: stop the other side, or what they can do to
Speaker 1: fight back at what's happening. I think there's one thing
Speaker 1: that I've found really interesting in particular between how many
Speaker 1: conservatives or Republicans think, and then how many Democrats or
Speaker 1: liberals think. And that is Republicans hold their own accountable
Speaker 1: in an interesting way, you know, so they go, either
Speaker 1: you're doing this or you out of the party. And
Speaker 1: we've seen Trump do that, you know without fail. Is
Speaker 1: this something that people could be doing to put pressure
Speaker 1: on the Democrats to say, hey, when we have voted
Speaker 1: you in, we need you to solidify what we voted
Speaker 1: you in to do. Yes. Absolutely, Look, there is a
Speaker 1: bill right now called the Women's Health Protection at UH
Speaker 1: Leader Schumer has will take it up next week again
Speaker 1: with the Senate to vote on. And what the Women's
Speaker 1: Health Protection Act does is it codifies ROW. It's the
Speaker 1: federal legislation that protects this right UH in into law.
Speaker 1: And you know, getting people on record, right, we don't have. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: we need to perform the filibuster in order to get
Speaker 1: it past. But at the same time we are going
Speaker 1: to be able to get people on record hold them
Speaker 1: to account. To your point, and that's our message, right,
Speaker 1: the reason you can't have what you want, even though
Speaker 1: we have of people believe that rose should be the
Speaker 1: law of the land. The reason you can't have the
Speaker 1: things that you want is because you know, essentially these
Speaker 1: states have um you know, you have got a vocal
Speaker 1: minority of people who control the levers of power. And
Speaker 1: the only way to change that is through direct democracy.
Speaker 1: So we've got to fight to get ourselves back into democracy,
Speaker 1: and we also have to fight to get ourselves back
Speaker 1: in the constitution. And this legislation can help us do.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about this legislation for a moment. You don't
Speaker 1: I always get frustrated and confused by why legislation in
Speaker 1: America has so many things added in. It's like a bundle,
Speaker 1: you know, because even this Women's Health Protection Act, you know,
Speaker 1: I love the idea of codifying Roe v. Wade, You go, like,
Speaker 1: let's get women their rights. But then it adds in
Speaker 1: a few other things that people can use as an
Speaker 1: excuse to fights against, you know, like it affects like
Speaker 1: waiting rooms and correct me anywhere I'm wrong. It's like
Speaker 1: it affects doctors in this way, and affects a little
Speaker 1: thing on this side and a little thing on that side.
Speaker 1: Do you sometimes not worry that when you create, you know,
Speaker 1: a law, when you when you help lawmakers to try
Speaker 1: and think of these things. It gives people an out
Speaker 1: where they can say, oh, I didn't vote for that
Speaker 1: because of this, not because I want women to have
Speaker 1: a choice, but I didn't like what it did to
Speaker 1: doctors or their waiting rooms or all these other ancillary
Speaker 1: issues that are going to affect people. Okay, So here
Speaker 1: here's the data play right now. Right, we have ROW
Speaker 1: is the law of the land technically until the full
Speaker 1: decision comes down. And even with ROW being the law land,
Speaker 1: even with it being enshrined in the constitution, states have
Speaker 1: put restrictions in over and over again. Right, We've got
Speaker 1: a six week ban in Texas that comes to the
Speaker 1: bounty hund of provision. We've got a fifteen week ban
Speaker 1: in Florida and Arizona. We've had laws about you know,
Speaker 1: whether or not somewhere and will need to see the
Speaker 1: same doctor within a seventy two hour period. The laws
Speaker 1: are all about shaming people. They're about shaming providers, about
Speaker 1: shaming the patients about the decisions that they want to
Speaker 1: make about their own bodies. What the Women's Health Protection
Speaker 1: Act does is actually says all of these laws that
Speaker 1: are getting in the way of people being able to
Speaker 1: access the right, their federal right is um. Those are
Speaker 1: laws that are that would be banned. And that's what's important, right,
Speaker 1: the fact that that even though we have the right
Speaker 1: right now, access itself is so limited. Um. And so
Speaker 1: that's why we're seeing the outrage right now because it
Speaker 1: has been not only this chipping away of rights, but
Speaker 1: also chipping away of access. Rose just you know, the
Speaker 1: floor right, as my reproductive justice colleagues would say, you know,
Speaker 1: when when you look at branding, you know, there's no
Speaker 1: denying that any political messaging, any any messaging that's trying
Speaker 1: to mobilize society has to think about how it's branded.
Speaker 1: When you look at how people approve of or what
Speaker 1: you know, the polling suggests about people's supports of abortion
Speaker 1: throughout the United States, I have noticed an interesting trend,
Speaker 1: and that is it dramatically changes depending on how the
Speaker 1: question is asked, and it changes depending on where you
Speaker 1: say the abortion happens or how so I think, you know,
Speaker 1: the overwhelming majority of people will say they are pro
Speaker 1: a woman having the right to choose, but in the
Speaker 1: first trimester and then second trimesterate almost becomes even maybe
Speaker 1: flips the other way, and then you know, third trimestate
Speaker 1: completely flips. Do you do you ever worry that maybe
Speaker 1: Planned parenthood and and organizations like yours that are fighting
Speaker 1: for women's rights to choose. Do you do you ever
Speaker 1: worry that you may be losing the entire war because
Speaker 1: you're not willing to concede on some of the battles
Speaker 1: or do you feel like you have to go for
Speaker 1: all of them at once, even if you risk losing everything.
Speaker 1: You know, Look, Trevor, no pregnancy, No two pregnancies end
Speaker 1: in the same way, right, I mean, it is the
Speaker 1: reality that people will make decisions about their their pregnancies,
Speaker 1: whether or not to continue them or determinate them, based
Speaker 1: on the circumstances in their own lives. And that is
Speaker 1: the thing that that we really need to understand here,
Speaker 1: you know, getting person out weeks in gestation, that is
Speaker 1: what the opposition has done. They try to to create
Speaker 1: these wedges around understanding what most people want is to
Speaker 1: not have a politician in their in their decision right
Speaker 1: as a you know, right, you don't want them. You
Speaker 1: don't want them in your exam room, you don't want
Speaker 1: them in the conversation with you and your doctor. You
Speaker 1: don't want in the conversation with you and your partner,
Speaker 1: with your pastor, and at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: like that to me is the most important, you know,
Speaker 1: message that we need to be sending to people. The
Speaker 1: reason why it also needs to be a private decision
Speaker 1: is because it's only your business and so right who
Speaker 1: from here? So again we are we'll be standing with
Speaker 1: the Senate next week when they take up this vote
Speaker 1: to support all of those folks who who support access
Speaker 1: to abortion codifying ROW. We will be channeling all of
Speaker 1: the rage through two And then, like I said, you know,
Speaker 1: we have a long game that we need to play
Speaker 1: around what it really means to to have you know,
Speaker 1: this federal protection um enshrined in the Constitution. And I
Speaker 1: think that's really important because I think a lot about
Speaker 1: the fact that you know what it means to be
Speaker 1: a leader at the time, you know, at the end
Speaker 1: of ROW, as a leader of a reproductive rights organization.
Speaker 1: And I think the question we have to ask ourselves
Speaker 1: now is who are we going to be when we
Speaker 1: are no longer defending ROW. How are we going to
Speaker 1: reimagine and create an affirmative vision right without stigma, the
Speaker 1: kind of provision that everyone should be able to have
Speaker 1: the kind of health care they need to have in
Speaker 1: their own state, not getting in a car driving a
Speaker 1: thousand miles, putting your kids in the car, and just
Speaker 1: to get you know, access to basic health care. You
Speaker 1: deserve it in the state that you live, regardless of
Speaker 1: your race, class, your ability to pay. All of those
Speaker 1: things are really important. And that's what Plant parents had
Speaker 1: stands for, That's what all the leaders in the movement
Speaker 1: stand for, and we'll be offering that affirmat a vision
Speaker 1: as well. I just want to join us in the
Speaker 1: store your farms to find up bands off our bodies
Speaker 1: really near you on my four tune bands m What's
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