On Tuesday’s CBS Evening News, anchor Norah O’Donnell was reporting live from the Supreme Court in the wake of the leaked draft of a court decision that would completely overturn Roe vs. Wade. During her coverage, she was clearly stunned by the apparent decision and the leak and baselessly worried that the decision would lead to a ban on gay marriage and contraceptives.
O’Donnell first turned to legal correspondent Jan Crawford who proclaimed that if “the draft holds, it would represent a triumph for the anti-abortion movement which has marched for life every year since the court's landmark 1973 decision that abortion was a constitutional right that states could not ban.”
Crawford bemoaned how Republican Presidents have nominated pro-life justices and Senator Mitch McConnell blocked former President Obama from appointing a replacement for Scalia:
With Justice Clarence Thomas on record opposing Roe, President George W. Bush nominated Alito. A decade later after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, then-majority leader Mitch McConnell blocked President Obama from filling the seat, giving former President Trump the opportunity to nominate Gorsuch, and later Kavanaugh and Barrett. Like with every other Supreme Court confirmation hearing since.
Later in the segment, O’Donnell frantically asked Crawford “if the court strikes down Planned Parenthood versus Casey as well, what would that mean for gay rights?”
Despite Justice Samuel Alito clearly stating that this decision would only affect abortion because it deals with a living person, Crawford stated that “you're hearing people who oppose overturning both of these decisions saying it would affect a lot of other rights, including gay rights, and of course, some of the language in that later 1992 abortion rights decision Casey is cited in some of the gay rights decisions the liberty interests there but there are other decisions that would provide a foundation for these other rights, like gay rights.”
Despite repeating propaganda from other people, she did hedge by noting “Justice Alito said this was focused on abortion because abortion is different” because “It involves the potential for human life. But again, this is a draft ruling.” Adding that “we'll see what the final ruling says.”
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To read the relevant transcript click “expand”:
CBS Evening News
5/3/2022
6:34:26 p.m. EasternJAN CRAWFORD: If the draft holds, it would represent a triumph for the anti-abortion movement which has marched for life every year since the court's landmark 1973 decision that abortion was a constitutional right that states could not ban. The court in 1992 was one vote away from overturning Roe. Over the next 30 years, that goal was a Republican campaign promise. With Justice Clarence Thomas on record opposing Roe, President George W. Bush nominated Alito. A decade later after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, then-majority leader Mitch McConnell blocked President Obama from filling the seat, giving former President Trump the opportunity to nominate Gorsuch, and later Kavanaugh and Barrett. Like with every other Supreme Court confirmation hearing since.
(...)
ED O’KEEFE: While Justice Samuel Alito writes in the draft decision that the ruling should only concern the right to abortion, the President said today that if it's approved, it could ultimately affect other rights, like the right to same-sex marriage, birth control, and privacy. Norah?
NORAH O’DONNELL: Ed O'Keefe, thank you. And Jan Crawford is still with us. So, if the court strikes down Planned Parenthood versus Casey as well, what would that mean for gay rights?
CRAWFORD: Well, you're hearing people who oppose overturning both of these decisions saying it would affect a lot of other rights, including gay rights, and of course, some of the language in that later 1992 abortion rights decision Casey is cited in some of the gay rights decisions, the liberty interests there but there are other decisions that would provide a foundation for these other rights, like gay rights. And as Ed said, Justice Alito said this was focused on abortion because abortion is different. It involves the potential for human life. But again, this is a draft ruling. We'll see what the final ruling says.
