Following two split rulings on abortion this week, one at the ballot box and one by the Supreme Court, the folks at MSNBC have engaged in an all-out assault pushing their pro-abortion agenda across their network. On Wednesday November 20 things weren’t much different as NewsNation host Tamron Hall brought on MSNBC darling and “women’s health advocate” Sandra Fluke for a one-sided discussion on abortion in America.
The segment began with host Hall framing the issue as “the Supreme Court ruled it would not intervene to stop Texas’ restrictive abortion law while voters in Albuquerque rejected an abortion ban.”
As the segment progressed, Ms. Hall allowed Sandra Fluke unchallenged airtime to push her pro-abortion access agenda:
I think it shows us where the fight is on reproductive justice right now and it's about access. And people who are living these lives who know women who have circumstances realize that they need to have access to these services. But we’re going to have to continue to fight this both at the ballot box and in the courts as well.
Rather than challenge Ms. Fluke on her opposition to having abortion clinics meet basic health and safety standards, Tamron Hall instead chose to push Ms. Fluke’s activism even further by asking her about the future objectives of the abortion movement:
And obviously with that said, the ballot box gave one result the courts another here. How does that affect the strategy moving forward?
Instead of bringing on an individual from the pro-life side of the abortion debate to challenge Ms. Fluke, Hall decided that quoting Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards was a much more appropriate use of the segment, by showing how the abortion provider CEO was outraged at the Supreme Court ruling allowing the Texas abortion law to remain in effect during the appeals process.
Much like Thomas Roberts’ abortion segment on November 19 in which MSNBC’s view of a fair debate on abortion was bringing on a representative from “Catholics for Choice”, Tamron Hall seems to think that giving Sandra Fluke an unchallenged platform to push for abortion access is the only opinion that matters.
Oh, well, there is one silver lining. Fluke's flacking on air against abortion restrictions destroys the faulty media narrative that she's chiefly concerned with expanding contraception coverage for women.
See relevant transcript below.
MSNBC
News Nation
November 20, 2013
2:32 p.m. Eastern
TAMRON HALL: Two big decisions in a couple of key abortion fights have come down this week, the Supreme Court ruled it would not intervene to stop Texas’ restrictive abortion law while voters in Albuquerque rejected an abortion ban. Texas Governor Rick Perry is applauding the Supreme Court’s decision not to block the state's new abortion law requiring doctors who perform the procedure to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. In a statement, Perry said in part this is good news both for the unborn and for the women of Texas who are now better protected from shoddy abortion providers, operating in dangerous conditions. Meanwhile voters in Albuquerque, New Mexico rejected a ban on abortions past 20 weeks with 55 percent voting against and 44 percent voting in favor. Joining me now is women’s health advocate Sandra Fluke. Sandra thank you for joining us yet again.
SANDRA FLUKE: Thank you.
HALL: So what is your reaction to here you have justices on one side and then an opinion from voters on the other. What do you believe that tells us?
FLUKE: Well I think it shows us where the fight is on reproductive justice right now and it's about access. And people who are living these lives who know women who have circumstances realize that they need to have access to these services. But we’re going to have to continue to fight this both at the ballot box and in the courts as well.
HALL: And obviously with that said, the ballot box gave one result the courts another here. How does that affect the strategy moving forward? We know that the next step in Texas will come down with an ppellate court I believe in January there.
FLUKE: That's right. Well something to keep in mind is what the Supreme Court said is that they weren't going to stop the law temporarily for now. This is a case that we do expect to be in the Fifth Circuit and then probably make its way back up to the Supreme Court again. So this is not the Supreme Court saying that this is a constitutional law. This will be an ongoing legal discussion. But in Albuquerque, there was such a strong, strong message from voters; this was a record breaking turnout for this kind of special election. And by ten points they said they want women to make these decisions for themselves.
HALL: And to your point regarding the Supreme Court decision, Justice Stephen Breyer said although the injunction will ultimately be reinstated if the law is indeed invalid, the harms to the individual women whose rights it restricts while it remains in effect will be permanent. That was the dissenting opinion here. Cecile Richards of course with Planned Parenthood, the president of the organization, she says this is outrageous regarding Texas and unacceptable and also demonstrates why we need stronger federal protections for women's health your rights and your ability to make your own medical decisions should not depend on your zip code. And that is the fear that we are looking at from Governor Perry’s reaction, to the vote in Albuquerque, these state by state battles.
FLUKE: That's right. That's why the measure that Senator Blumenthal and Representative Chu introduced last week in Congress is so important. This is the Women's Health Protection Act, which is the federal government stepping in and saying we need to make sure women everywhere in this country have not only the legal right but the reality to be able to access the reproductive health care that they need. So this is a proactive step to make sure these types of state and local measures don't undercut women's access to health care.
