For the second day in a row, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell decided that her narrative about Texas’s pro-life law is more important than what the law actually says. During a Wednesday interview with Sen. Dick Durbin, Mitchell alleged a woman was denied emergency care because the state is leading the fight against women’s health.
Mitchell teed up a clip for Durbin to react to by claiming that, “In Texas, which of course has been the leader in, you know, fighting against women's health and abortion rights, we’re seeing a lawsuit now brought by women who say that they have suffered medical harm when their abortion access was denied. I want to play what one of those women said, I believe this was to Yamiche Alcindor.”
Lauren Miller, who is one of five women suing the state, was then shown declaring, “To then go through this additional trauma where the state was saying, you don't have control of your body, was just further isolation. It was dehumanizing and you just don’t feel like a person fully.”
Mitchell then led Durbin not with a question, but a solemn declaration:
Now, Lauren Miller was able to go out of state, senator, but Yamiche, as I was referring to, did a story the other night on a woman who had to go into the ICU because she was carrying a fetus with no heartbeat and was unable to get the medical attention and could not prove that it was medically needed and now will have a very difficult time conceiving in the future because of the scar tissue that she endured. You know, this is happening all over the country now.
The law directly states, “A physician does not violate this section if the physician performed a test for a fetal heartbeat as required by Section 171.203 and did not detect a fetal heartbeat.”
For his part, Durbin was more than happy to play along in order to attack Republicans, “Andrea, it's not an isolated situation. It is happening all over the country. It is a decision by the Republican Party and by the judges that support their position to take away the right of individual women and their doctors to make this entirely personal and sometimes life or death decision.”
He concluded the abortion-related portion of the interview by adding, “For 50 years, we guaranteed the right of a woman to make that choice. There were limits to it and there should have been. I don't disagree with that, but the bottom line now is saying this is going to be left up to every state legislature and every state governor is just not in the best interest of medical care of our population.”
As for the best interests of the viewers, Andrea Mitchell Reports continues to leave then uninformed.
This segment was sponsored by Progressive.
Here is a transcript for the February 8 show:
MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports
3/8/2023
12:18 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: And also in Texas, which of course has been the leader in, you know, fighting against women's health and abortion rights, we’re seeing a lawsuit now brought by women who say that they have suffered medical harm when their abortion access was denied. I want to play what one of those women said, I believe this was to Yamiche Alcindor.
LAUREN MILLER: To then go through this additional trauma where the state was saying, you don't have control of your body, was just further isolation. It was dehumanizing and you just don’t feel like a person fully.
MITCHELL: Now, Lauren Miller was able to go out of state, senator, but Yamiche, as I was referring to, did a story the other night on a woman who had to go into the ICU because she was carrying a fetus with no heartbeat and was unable to get the medical attention and could not prove that it was medically needed and now will have a very difficult time conceiving in the future because of the scar tissue that she endured. You know, this is happening all over the country now.
DICK DURBIN: Andrea, it's not an isolated situation. It is happening all over the country. It is a decision by the Republican Party and by the judges that support their position to take away the right of individual women and their doctors to make this entirely personal and sometimes life or death decision.
To have legislators trying to draw up standards that apply in every case ultimately is going to create the kind of awful situations we have just heard described where some women are going to have their health and their lives in danger because the legislature decided to take a political position.
For 50 years, we guaranteed the right of a woman to make that choice. There were limits to it and there should have been. I don't disagree with that, but the bottom line now is saying this is going to be left up to every state legislature and every state governor is just not in the best interest of medical care of our population.
