Comedians aren’t joking about the Supreme Court’s latest decision on abortion and free speech.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court decided that California can’t force pro-life pregnancy centers to advertise abortion. Justices voted 5 – 4 in the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) v. Becerra case that challenged California’s 2015 FACT Act. Among other things, the act required licensed centers to notify clients of “public programs” with “free or low-cost access” to “services” like abortion. Left-wing comedians from Lizz Winstead to Jena Friedman chimed in on the ruling.
Winstead slammed the decision by quoting Justice Stephen Breyer, one of the four who dissented.
“Breyer writes in his NIFLA dissent ‘The majority contends that the disclosure here is unrelated
to a ‘medical procedure,’ unlike that in Casey, and so the State has no reason to inform a woman about alternatives to childbirth’” she tweeted, along with the hashtags “#ExposeFakeClinics,” “#EndtheLies,” and “#NotAWeenieGarage.”
By “fake clinics,” Winstead meant pregnancy centers. While abortion groups routinely try to dismiss them as “fake,” these centers provide services to women including medical care, baby supplies, parenting classes, and job skills. An upcoming report by the Charlotte Lozier Institute of the Susan B. Anthony List, with the March for Life, found that Pregnancy Help Centers “provided almost 2,000,000 people with free services, with estimated community cost savings of at least $161 million annually” in 2017.
“Trump getting elected will spark a revolution!” mocked comedian Patton Oswalt, as he has done with other Supreme Court decisions.
For her part, comedian Jena Friedman tried to look for the silver lining.
“This actually isn’t all bad news,” she tweeted. “The ruling will strengthen the case for doctors against states that have ‘gag rules’ ordering them to lie to patients about abortion risks. @NARAL that’s correct right?”
She didn’t name those risks, but she probably didn’t include the risk (or, rather, certainty) that a baby’s life always ends.
More and more, comedians stray from comedy to make political points against the Trump administration – from Jimmy Fallon saying “we make films to upset Mike Pence” at the Oscars and Samantha Bee calling Ivanka Trump a “c***” to Kathy Griffin holding a model of President Trump’s severed, bloody head.
Abortion is no exception. After Trump won the election, a comedian warned on Colbert “get your abortions now,” because “we’re going to be fucked.” And in 2016, an actress on Conan declared abortion “cool,” just like AAA car towing.
